Modi’s France visit to focus on ways to expand defence cooperation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron will discuss ways to expand defence cooperation during the meetings in Paris on Thursday and Friday, even as the magistrates probing alleged irregularities in the 2016 deal for India’s procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France have purportedly sought New Delhi’s cooperation.

The prime minister will visit Paris from Thursday to Friday. He will also visit Abu Dhabi on Saturday to meet Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates, before returning to New Delhi.

Modi will meet the President of the French Senate Gérard Larcher and Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne shortly after arriving in Paris on Thursday. Macron will host a private dinner for him on the first day of his visit to the capital of France.

The prime minister will attend the Bastille Day parade as the “guest of honour” on Friday. A tri-services contingent of the armed forces of India would participate in the military parade on the occasion of the national day of France. The Rafale fighter jets of the Indian Air Force would participate in the ceremony. The Indian Navy’s stealth destroyer INS Chennai has also reached France.

Modi and Macron will hold formal talks on Friday.

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India is likely to make a move forward to buy 26 Rafale-Marine combat aircraft for the Indian Navy from the Dassault Aviation of France. The two sides may also ink a deal for manufacturing three additional Scorpene class submarines for the Indian Navy at Mazgaon Dockyards Limited in Mumbai with the transfer of technology from the French Naval Group.

“If you look at the scope of India-France defence cooperation, you will find it to be very robust, strong, and extensive in itself,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told journalists in New Delhi on Wednesday. He was briefing media persons about the prime minister’s visit to France and the UAE. “Naturally, when two leaders will meet, they will discuss how to further enhance the scope of this defence cooperation, how to take the defence cooperation between the two countries in the direction of co-production, co-designing, co-development and how to align it with our ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative.”

Notwithstanding the controversy over the procurement of the 36 Rafale fighter jets for the Indian Air Force from the Dassault Aviation of France, New Delhi is moving ahead to buy 26 marine versions of the combat aircraft from the same company for the Indian Navy.

The magistrates appointed by Parquet National Financier (PNF) of France to probe allegations of alleged irregularities by Dassault Aviation to secure the deal for the sale of 36 Rafale jets for the Indian Air Force sought cooperation from the Government of India, according to a report published on Wednesday by Mediapart, an online investigative journal published from Paris. The Mediapart reported that the French magistrates were interested in studying the case files of the investigations conducted in India into allegations that Dassault Aviation had “secretly paid several million euros” to a business intermediary in order to secure the deal signed in 2016.

The PNF is a judicial institution set up to probe serious economic and financial crimes.

New Delhi's Rs 59000 crore government-to-government deal with Paris to procure 36 Rafale fighter jets “off the shelf” had turned into a major political controversy in India, with the Modi Government being accused by the opposition Congress of nudging the Dassault Aviation to choose Reliance Defence as its offset partner, brushing aside state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The Supreme Court, however, in December 2018 concluded that no irregularities were found in the deal. It also dismissed review petitions in November 2019.