Highlights of PM Narendra Modi's Visit to France in 2025

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a two-nation tour of France and the United States in February 2025. On the first leg of his foreign tour, he visited France from 10-12 February 2025. From France, he will visit the United States of America on 12&13 February, at the invitation of President Donald Trump. Prime Minister Modi would be amongst the first few world leaders to visit the United States following the inauguration of President Trump as the 47th President of the United States of America on 20th January 2025.

The Prime Minister is accompanied by External Affairs Minister Dr S.Jaishnakar.

In an extraordinary gesture, French President Macron came to the Paris airport to see off Prime Minister Modi after the end of his visit to France.

Highlights of PM Modi’s visit to France 

India and France have close political and military ties. In 1998, the relationship between the two countries was elevated to the Strategic level. France has emerged as a major supplier of defence equipment. 

During his visit to France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the French cities of Paris, Marseille and the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) site at Cadarache.

Following are the main points of his visit to Paris.

Elysee Palace 

On 10th February, President Emmanuel Macron of France hosted a dinner in his honour at the Élysée Palace in Paris. In 1870, after the Franco-Prussian war,  Élysée Palace became the official residence and office of the Head of the State of France.

Co-Chair of the AI Action Summit 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chaired the 3rd International Summit on Artificial Intelligence AI Action Summit’ along with President Emmanuel Macron of France.

India will host the 4th International Summit on Artificial Intelligence.

Prime Minister Modi also met President Alar Karis of Estonia and JD Vance, the Vice President of the United States.

14th India France CEO Forum Meeting 

Prime Modi and French President Macron jointly addressed the 14th India-France CEOs Forum meeting in Paris on 11th February 2024.

The inaugural session of the 14th India-France CEOs Forum meeting was addressed by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France, and Eric Lombard, Minister of the Economy, Finance, and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty of France.

The meeting was attended by the top businessmen of both countries.

Following are the main points of his visit to Marseille

Prime Minister Modi and President Macron visited the French city of Marseille together in the French presidential aircraft.

Inauguration of the Consulate General of India in Marseille

• Both the leaders jointly inaugurated the newly opened Indian Consulate General in Marseille.
•  It was the first time a French President had inaugurated a foreign country’s Consulate in France.
• The Consulate General will have consular jurisdiction over four French administrative regions of  Provence Alpes Côte d’Azur, Corsica, Occitanie, and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. These regions of France are synonymous with trade, industry, energy, and luxury tourism and have significant economic, cultural, and people-to-people connections with India.

Mazargues War Cemetery 

• Both the leaders visited the Mazargues War Cemetery in Marseille.
• The Cemetery has been built in memory of the thousands of Indian soldiers who lost their lives defending France from German invasion during World War 1 & 2. 
• Sepoy Khudadad Khan of the 129th Baluchis, who fought bravely at the Ypres battle in 1914, was awarded Britain’s highest gallantry award, the Victoria Cross.
• He was the first Indian to get the Victoria Cross.

International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Facility(ITER) in Cadarache

Both leaders visited the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Facility( ITER)  in Cadarache, France.

ITER is an international project to build an experimental fusion reactor facility based on the principle of nuclear fusion. The source of energy of our Sun is nuclear fusion.

ITER is based on the  “Tokamak” concept, where the reaction of two hydrogen isotopes, Deuterium and Tritium, will combine to produce energy.

Partners of ITER

• The partners of the ITER project are - the European Union, India, China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States of America.
• The partner countries contribute by providing the pieces of equipment necessary for the project.
• The host, the European Union, contributes 45%, while the rest of the partners contribute 9% each. 
• From India, ITER-India is the Indian domestic agency for the ITER project.
• ITER-India is a specially empowered project of the Institute for Plasma Research Under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India.

Agreements and MoUs between India and France 

During his visit to France, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with President Macron on bilateral, regional, and international issues.

During his visit, several memorandum of understanding (MoUs) and agreements were signed between the two countries. Following is the list of the MoUs/agreement.

• The logo for the “India-France Year of Innovation 2026” was launched.
• Cooperation in establishing the Indo-French Center for the Digital Sciences.
• French Start-up incubator Station F to host 10 Indian Startups.
• Collaboration in co-designing, co-developing, and co-producing Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Modular Reactors in the civil nuclear energy field. 
• Renewal of MoU for cooperation with the Global Center for Nuclear Energy Partnership (GCNEP).
• Cooperation between the Environment Ministry of both countries.
• Declaration of Intent on Triangular Development Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Both countries will identify and implement sustainable development goals and climate-focused projects in priority sectors, including digital innovation, digital public infrastructure, clean energy, green technologies, preservation of biodiversity, women empowerment, education, health, nutrition, water, and sanitation in a country of the Indo pacific region.

France 

It is a West European country that is a founding member of the European Union.

Capital: Paris

Currency: Euro

President: Emmanuel Macron

Also, Read about the Artificial Intelligence Summit in Paris