INDIA- FRANCE RELATIONS - HORIZON 2047

 pm modi in france

PM Modi’s France visit: Shaping a multipolar world

While India has more than 30 strategic partnerships with various countries, it would be misleading to say that they all are of the same significance. Two questions are crucial in this context. One, is it a full-spectrum strategic partnership? Two, has the strategic partnership in question stood the test of time? Measured against these two criteria, the Franco-Indian strategic partnership comes out on top. The Franco-Indian partnership spans the full spectrum of what may be considered strategic — defence, space, climate change, critical technologies and people-to-people ties. More importantly, France has stood by India through thick and thin from the time the strategic partnership was first established in 1998.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just concluded a hugely significant visit to France. For once, words like “unprecedented” and “historic” used are not just hyperbole. This was after all France, so of course, there was pomp and circumstance. France bestowed on PM Modi the highest civilian honour. Our tri-services contingent, which marched past Champs-Elysees, must have made every Indian’s heart swell with pride. Three documents, namely, the joint communique, the Horizon 2047 roadmap and the list of specific outcomes put out by the two sides are enough to overwhelm even the most inveterate policy wonk. Some have compared this visit to the one that PM Modi undertook to the US not so long ago. It should be obvious that the fact that PM Modi went to France so close on the heels of the US is the ultimate expression of India’s strategic autonomy.

The defence sector always grabs attention at Franco-Indian summits and this was no exception. Key agreements: Safran, the French company and the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) will jointly develop jet engines for the advanced medium combat aircraft. Again, Safran will co-develop with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited engines for the Indian multi-role helicopter programme. Submarines are proposed to be jointly built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders and the Naval Group of France. In all of the above, the main takeaway is this: Franco-Indian defence ties have truly moved from a mere buyer-seller model to that of jointly designing, developing and co-producing it in India. This is a paradigmatic shift from the French side in terms of willingness to part with know-how and state-of-the-art technology. France can genuinely claim that it is one strategic partner which more than ever is contributing substantially to a Bharat which is “aatmanirbhar”. Questions have been raised about the fate of the 26 Rafale marine aircraft for INS Vikrant. This will, no doubt, happen in due course. For India, following the war in Ukraine, diversification is the name of the game in defence acquisition. It is becoming increasingly clear that France will play a huge role in this.

The Indo-Pacific, predictably enough, occupied centre stage in discussions between the two leaders. A roadmap has been agreed upon. France is not just a resident power in the Indian Ocean but has massive real estate in the form of La Reunion, New Caledonia and French Polynesia. It has a long Exclusive Economic Zone with 1.5 million citizens living there, not to mention bases in the Indo-Pacific. The roadmap already talks of cooperation being comprehensive and including the field of defence. Joint exercises between the two countries, use of French military bases by Indian forces and achieving real-time maritime domain awareness in the Indian Ocean are of paramount importance for India. Plurilateral arrangements with Australia and UAE are alluded to. More than anything else, it is refreshing to note that while there is boilerplate language on a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific, the roadmap underlines the fact that Franco-Indian cooperation seeks to secure not just economic but also security interests. This roadmap should attract attention in Beijing where it is often argued that it is “Indian Ocean”, not “India’s Ocean”! From our perspective, it should be clear that while we are on our own on the land border with China, in the maritime space India can count significantly on France along with our Quad partners.

France has come to the informed conclusion that no global problem can be tackled meaningfully without India’s participation. This explains the extraordinary emphasis on bilateral cooperation in the fields of climate change, energy security, biodiversity loss and counter-terrorism efforts, all of which figures prominently in the Horizon 2047 statement. This also illustrates France’s determination to support India’s candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

additional info

Since 1998, when India’s first-ever strategic partnership was signed with France, both countries have worked closely in almost all multilateral forums, including in the UN Security Council. The convergence has emerged on issues related to reformed and effective multilateralism, international terrorism, Climate Change, sustainable development, and the Indo-Pacific.

3 pillars of partnership

Partnership for security, sovereignty

  • Defence: Continuation of the cooperation on fighter jets and submarines, following the timely delivery of the 36 Rafale jets for the IAF and the success of the P75 programme (six Scorpene submarines).

  • Space: Scientific and commercial partnership is being enhanced through several agreements between France’s CNES and India’s ISRO, notably concerning reusable launchers; finalization of the joint Earth observation satellite, TRISHNA; the first phase of the constellation of maritime surveillance satellites in the Indian Ocean; and the protection of Indo-French satellites in orbit against the risk of collision.

  • Civil nuclear energy: Both sides welcomed progress on the 6-EPR power plant project in Jaitapur. They decided to launch a cooperation programme on small modular reactors and advanced modular reactors.

  • Indo-Pacific: Adoption of a roadmap for joint actions in the Indo-Pacific, covering all aspects of our comprehensive strategy for the region. Work on finalising an Indo-French development fund for third countries, which will enable joint financing of sustainable development projects in the Indo-Pacific region.

  • Counter-terrorism: Strengthening of cooperation between France’s GIGN and India’s National Security Guard.

  • Critical technology: Strengthening of cooperation on cutting-edge digital technology, particularly on supercomputing, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. Announcement of an agreement between Atos and the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India for the supply of supercomputers worth over Rs 920 crore.

  • Civil aviation: Signing of technical and safety agreements in the field of civil aviation, towards supporting the expansion of routes between France and India, and the growth of the Indian civil aviation market

Partnership for the planet, global issues

  • Plastic pollution: Commitment of France and India for the adoption of an international treaty to put an end to plastic pollution throughout the entire life cycle of plastic products.

  • Health: Signing of a Letter of Intent on health and medicine, to structure cooperation in hospitals, medical research, digital technology, biotechnology, public health and combating micro-bacterial resistance as part of the One Health approach.
    Blue economy: Launch of a partnership between l’lnstitut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER – French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea) and India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) on ocean research, under the roadmap on Blue Economy and Ocean Governance adopted by France and India in 2022.

  • Financing the energy transition: Announcement of Rs 923 crore in financing from the French Development Agency for the second phase of India’s flagship sustainable cities programme “CITIIS 2.0”, in partnership with the European Union and KFW of Germany. Announcement of Rs 246 crore in financing from Proparco for the South Asia Growth Fund (SAGF III), which will invest in companies promoting energy efficiency, clean energy, and optimization of natural resources in the region. Announcement of a Rs 164-crore financing from Proparco with Satya Microcapital for giving women in rural India access to microfinance.

  • Decarbonised hydrogen: Announcement of a partnership between McPhy and L&T on manufacturing electrolyzers in India, under the Indo-French roadmap for decarbonised hydrogen adopted in 2022.

Partnership for people

  • Student mobility: New target of welcoming 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030. Announcement by France of a significant increase in the resources of the Campus France network in India. Creation of international classes to facilitate the integration of non-French-speaking Indian students into the French higher education system. Signing of two MoUs between the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IPP), and IIT Delhi and IIT Madras.

  • Diplomatic and consular network: Announcement of the opening of a Consulate General of India in Marseille and a Bureau de France in Hyderabad.

  • Culture: Announcement of France’s selection as India’s partner for the establishment of a major new National Museum in New Delhi. Announcement of an agreement between France Médias Monde and Prasar Bharati for the exchange of audio-visual content and the co-production of programmes on areas such as culture, education, science, and sports.

  • Research: France and India will increase funding of the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA) in order to fund new projects together.

  • Sports: Signing of a Letter of Intent to structure cooperation in this field, particularly in view of major upcoming sporting events.

  • Civil society: Objective of doubling the number of solidarity and civic service international volunteers in India and France by 2025.

at time - check out this

Horizon 2047: 25th Anniversary of the India-France Strategic Partnership, Towards A Century of India-France Relations (mea.gov.in)




tech diplomacy in France

From jet engines to AI and Quantum Computing: The seeds of the future in tech diplomacy with France and US

In the defence technology sector, the partnerships have expanded, with a focus on military aviation and naval capabilities. In the US, an MoU was signed between General Electric and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the manufacture of GE F-414 jet engines in India for the Light Combat Aircraft Mk 2, under transfer of technology (TOT). Additionally, India procured 31 MQ-9B HALE UAVs from General Atomics. In France, Safran and DRDO agreed to jointly develop a military jet engine in India for the Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA), and Safran also agreed to co-develop the engine for the Indian Multi-Role Helicopter (IMRH) with HAL. Aircraft engine technology has been a major requirement for India for quite some time and while the US provided only TOT, the French provided India with the intellectual property (IP) rights for the new military jet engine.

Digital technology has been another key focus area. Discussions and agreements revolved around cyber security, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing (QC), semiconductors, and high-performance computing (HPC). The Indo-US iCET initiative, inaugurated earlier in the year by both the national security advisers, formed the basis for discussions, while an MoU on cooperation in digital technologies was signed between the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the French Ministry of Economy based on the Indo-French roadmap on Cyber Security and Digital Technology adopted in 2019. The agreements aim to foster cooperation in building semiconductor capabilities in India as envisaged under the National Semiconductor Mission (NSM), developing AI and QC systems, and establishing standards for global cooperation. India’s current leadership of the 25-nation Global Partnership for AI (GPAI) was appreciated by both the US and French and they offered their support for India taking a role in fostering responsible AI in the face of growing concerns around the existential threats posed by it.

Cybersecurity cooperation, critical infrastructure protection, and promoting cybersecurity education and skills also form a major part of the cooperation expanding on the current engagement of capacity building. India’s focus on Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and its possibility to reduce the global digital divide is another avenue that both US and France have agreed to support.

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