Modi, Macron To Meet In Mumbai To Bolster Bilateral Ties: Rafales, Hammer Missiles On The Agenda

As  French President Emmanuel Macron begins a key bilateral visit to India, high-stakes defence and technology partnerships are set to dominate talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi  on February 17. Macron and his wife Brigitte landed in Mumbai for bilateral talks with PM Modi at India’s commercial capital.

The next day he travels to New Delhi to attend the AI summit being held in India for the first time. Some 20 world leaders, including Brazil’s Lula de Silva, have confirmed attendance. When France held an AI summit last February, it was co-chaired by Macron and Modi.

Discussions between Macron and Modi  are expected to include a possible commitment to purchase additional 114  Rafale jets, joint production of helicopters, and collaboration on AASM Hammer precision missiles, signalling a deepening of the strategic partnership between New Delhi and Paris. French engine maker SAFRAN, which makes M-88 engines for Dassault Aviation, has announced it is ready to buy parts from local suppliers in India, and strengthen India’s aviation industry. Safran already has a unit operating in Telangana.

Prime Minister Modi had inaugurated the Safran Aircraft Engine Services India-SAESI facility in Hyderabad last November. This is a dedicated facility for Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion- LEAP engines, which power the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. The state-of-the-art facility will employ over thousand highly-skilled Indian technicians and engineers once it becomes fully operational by 2035.

Macron’s visit comes as India seeks to broaden its strategic and economic engagement with Europe, a month after signing a free trade agreement with the European Union, adding fresh momentum to its outreach to the bloc.India and France have never had any major issues and bilateral ties were good. However, after New Delhi’s 1998 nuclear tests, the relationship took a new life. When the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government decided to conduct India’s second set of nuclear tests in Pokhran soon after coming to power, the world came down on India like a ton of bricks. US president Bill Clinton took the lead in condemning India. 

Britain’s Tony Blair and most European leaders were bent on punishing India with sanctions. During an EU summit in the UK that summer, Blair proposed that the EU should announce sanctions. France, however, refused saying that it would not agree to EU sanctions. It was up to individual countries to do so if they pleased, but French president Jacques Chirac would not support the move.

The resolution fell through and India was spared collective punishment thanks to France. New Delhi was delighted and Vajpayee’s then national security adviser Brajesh Mishra flew to France and upgraded diplomatic ties to the strategic level. France was one of the first western countries that India signed a strategic partnership with. Today India has strategic ties with several countries.   

The 1998 India-France Strategic Partnership is a robust alliance focusing on defence, space, and civil nuclear energy.  It has now expanded into the Indo-Pacific, technology, and climate change. President Macron’s visit will further strengthen bilateral and strategic ties between the two countries.