A partnership sans pareil: Modi-Macron meet to boost India-France defence, digital, energy, space cooperation

A few months after French President Jacques Chirac visited New Delhi and graced the Republic Day ceremony in India on January 26, 1998, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s government conducted the Pokhran II nuclear tests. France did join the rest of the West in condemning the tests but refrained from supporting the move led by the United States at the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on India. Chirac decided to continue and nurture the India-France strategic partnership that he and Vajpayee’s predecessor I K Gujral had launched during his visit to New Delhi.

A little more than a quarter century later, Emmanuel Macron, the current occupant of the Élysée Palace in Paris, is coming to join President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion of the Republic Day of India. Paris unhesitatingly came to the aid of India after President Joe Biden turned down the invitation to be the chief guest at the ceremony as the ties between his administration and New Delhi came under stress in the wake of the US allegation about India’s role in hatching a plot to kill a Khalistani Sikh extremist in New York.

France has never allowed value judgements to cast a shadow over its ties with India. Unlike the rest of the West, it also did not frown upon India’s refusal to condemn Russia for its military aggression against Ukraine. Paris not only respected the strategic autonomy of New Delhi but also refrained from meddling in the internal affairs of India.

Modi is likely to welcome Macron on his arrival in Jaipur on January 25, a day before they will witness the R-Day parade, which will have a French military contingent marching on the Kartavya Path in New Delhi along with the personnel of the armed forces of India. Some of the 36 Rafale fighter jets India purchased from Dassault Aviation of France for its air force under the 2016 intergovernmental agreement are likely to fly past during the parade, even as the agenda for discussion between the two leaders is expected to include more big-ticket defence deals.

A roadmap for defence-industrial cooperation between India and France is likely to be adopted after the meeting between the two leaders, who are expected to discuss cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. The two sides may make progress on the proposed deal between Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited of India and the Naval Group of France for the construction of three additional submarines – as a follow-up to the construction of six Kalvari-class – an export derivative of the Scorpène-class of France – diesel-electric submarines for the Indian Navy under New Delhi’s acquisition programme ‘Project 75’. Also on the agenda is the proposed agreement to procure 26 Rafale-M fighter jets from Dassault Aviation of France for the Indian Navy.

Though not much progress is expected on the nuclear power plant proposed to be built by Electricite de France (EDF) at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, the two sides may launch a partnership for co-developing the Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Modular Reactor technologies.

The Modi-Macron talks are also expected to cover bilateral space cooperation, including ISRO-CNES joint exploration for Mars and Venus, maritime monitoring and France’s support to the Gaganyaan programme of India.