Roadshow, fort tour and more: R-Day chief guest Macron's plans in India

France’s Emmanuel Macron will be in India on 25 and 26 January. Macron, the president of France, will be India’s chief guest for its 75th Republic Day celebrations. This will be Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s fifth meeting since May. This comes after Modi in July 2023 visited France for the Bastille day celebrations. But what is Macron’s schedule? And what can we expect from his visit? Let’s take a closer look: What is Macron’s schedule? As per India Today, Macron will touch down in Jaipur today. The French president’s aircraft is scheduled to land at Jaipur airport at 2:30 pm. Macron will head to Amer Fort where he will attend a cultural event. Macron will “tour Amber Fort and interact with artisans, stakeholders in Indo-French cultural projects, as well as students,” Mint quoted an official statement as saying.

Macron will then meet Modi at Jantar Mantar.

The prime minister and the French president are likely to walk around the area. Macron and Modi will then hold a joint roadshow from Jantar Mantar to Sanganeri Gate. They will also briefly halt at Hawa Mahal. In the evening, Modi is set to host a private dinner for Macron at the Taj Rambagh Palace. As per Mint, the leaders are slated to hold wide-ranging talks on all key aspects of bilateral ties and various geopolitical issues. Modi and Macron are also expected to deliberate on expanding maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, the situation in the Red Sea, Hamas-Israel conflict and the war in Ukraine. As per Financial Express, the visit is aimed at strengthening ties as outlined in the “Horizon 2047 Roadmap.” “This visit will cap the 25th year of our strategic partnership. France was the first country in the western world that India signed a strategic partnership agreement with and that partnership has strengthened in all bilateral and multilateral arenas,” sources told the newspaper. A joint statement is expected to be issued at the end of day one of Macron’s visit, as per India Today. [caption id=“attachment_13107292” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] France’s president Emmanuel Macron will be India’s chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations. ANI[/caption] The road show is scheduled to start at Jantar Mantar area at 6 pm while Modi and Macron are set to begin their talks at 7:15 pm. Macron is set to depart for Delhi at around 8:50 pm, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. On Friday On Friday, Macron will attend the Republic Day celebrations as India’s chief guest. A contingent of the French Army will participate in this year’s parade at Kartavya Path, as per India Today.

As per The Wire, this is the fifth time a French president has been invited to be India’s chief guest on Republic Day.

A 95-member marching contingent and 33-member band contingent from France will take part in the parade. Two Rafale fighter jets and an Airbus A330 multi-role tanker transport aircraft of the French air force will also feature in the celebrations. The French marching contingent from the French Foreign Legion features six Indians. Macron will then head to the French Embassy in New Delhi and meet the staff. In the evening, Macron will head to Rashtrapati Bhavan. President Macron will also attend the ‘At Home’ reception by President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. After this, he will attend the official banquet. The French president is scheduled to depart Delhi at 10:05 pm on Friday. What can we expect from the visit? Some major announcements are likely. New Delhi and Paris are in negotiations for multi-billion dollar deals to buy French fighter jets and submarines for the Indian military. Ambassador Mohan Kumar told India Today, “The one thing I would look for is basically whether both countries will be able to announce a decision on Rafale for the naval aircraft, the 26 Rafale that we are expected to buy. I have absolutely no idea where the negotiations stand; the one thing that I see is this visit comes so soon after the last visit, and my sense of defence acquisition by India is that these things take time, so I’m not in a position to say that we should expect an announcement in this regard. But having said that, there are other areas where the two countries decided last July that they will join forces to make a combat fighter engine or jet aircraft. So I think that is something on which at least useful discussions can take place.” Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit for Bastille Day celebrations in July, the Indian government had given initial approval to buy 26 Rafale jets and jointly produce three Scorpene class submarines worth around 800 billion rupees ($9.62 billion). Contingents from the Indian Army, Navy and Air Force had participated the Bastille Day parade, as per The Wire.

People in the know told the Mint the proposal will likely be brought up and that talks are ‘moving ahead positively.’

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“The two countries are also key partners in contributing to international peace and security, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, where we implement a joint strategy,” the MEA statement said. Macron’s visit will stress France’s commitment to creating more opportunities for Indian students, artists, investors and tourists, it added. Moreover, “special focus will be given to initiatives fostering student mobility, in support of President Macron’s announcement that France seeks to welcome 30,000 Indian students by 2030,” the statement concluded. [caption id=“attachment_12865182” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] People in the know said India’s proposal to buy 26 Rafale jets and jointly produce three Scorpene class submarines will likely be brought up and that talks are ‘moving ahead positively.’ Image courtesy: IAF[/caption] Macron is also set to meet business leaders from pharmaceutical, auto, space, energy and hydrogen industries during his visit. France is India’s second-largest arms supplier, and has been one of its oldest and closest partners in Europe for decades. It was the only Western nation that did not impose sanctions on New Delhi after India conducted nuclear tests in 1998. But the deals are yet to be finalised. France is also keen to enhance cooperation in space and nuclear sectors. For France, this visit is an opportunity to cement the strategic partnership Paris has forged with New Delhi over the past decades, but no new contract in the defence sector is expected, French presidential advisers told journalists ahead of the visit. India has relied on French fighter jets for four decades now. Much before buying Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, India bought Mirage jets in the 1980s and those still comprise two squadrons of the air force. Fillip to comprehensive trade pact? Think-tank GTRI said  the visit is likely to give a fillip to the ongoing talks for a comprehensive trade agreement between India and EU. France is a key member of the 27-nation bloc European Union (EU). In June 2022, India and the EU restarted the negotiations for the long-pending trade and investment agreement, after a gap of over eight years. The negotiations for the ambitious free-trade agreement (FTA) were suspended in 2013 after several rounds of talks spanning six years. The Global Trade Research Initiative (GTRI) said that this visit is expected to provide an impetus to various domains of mutual interest, ranging from defence cooperation to economic ties, and from energy collaboration to space and nuclear partnerships. The discussions will likely pave the way for new agreements and deepen existing cooperation, reflecting the dynamic and evolving nature of the India-France strategic partnership, it said. “France, as India’s eighth largest trading partner, aims to strengthen trade and investment ties. Both countries are negotiating an FTA (India-EU FTA) to further expand the relationship. They may discuss market access, intellectual property rights, and investment facilitation,” GTRI Co-Founder Ajay Srivastava said.

The seventh round of talks for the proposed agreement will be held from 19 to 23 February.

Srivastava added that the discussions may include counterterrorism, intelligence sharing, and defence technology transfer. “Potential collaboration is also expected in renewable energy, green hydrogen, and sustainable infrastructure development, underscoring their commitment to combating climate change,” it said, adding that discussions between the two countries may also focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation on global health, food security, and climate change. The growing space partnership between India’s ISRO and France’s CNES, including joint missions and technology transfer, will likely be a topic of discussion besides increasing cooperation in the civil nuclear segment, it said. The economic relationship between India and France is marked by significant business presence, trade, and investment. Over 1,000 French companies operate in India across various sectors like manufacturing, services, and technology, while more than 200 Indian companies are established in France. In 2022-23, the bilateral trade reached $19.2 billion (export $7.6 billion and imports $6.2 billion). India’s exports to France included diesel ($ 707.9 million), ATF ($405 million), turbojets ($496 million), apparels ($850 million), footwear ($ 157 million), smartphones ($248 million), gold jewellery ($160.5 million), airplane parts ($ 158 million), medicines ($447.8 million), and chemicals ($364.5 million). On the other hand, main imports included planes, helicopters, and/or spacecraft ($2.1 billion), LNG ($400 million), navigation equipment ($ 102 million), turbojets, and gas turbines ($442.2 million). In the domain of services, India exported financial, IT, maintenance and repair, travel, transport, and other business services worth $ 3.2 billion to France, while importing services such as other business services, transportation, and insurance, amounting to $2.2 billion. Investment-wise, France ranks as the 11th largest investor in India, with a cumulative Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow of $10.5 billion from April 2000 to March 2023. India had earlier hoped to have US president Joe Biden as well as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to be the ceremony’s chief guests. The three nations along with India form part of the Quad group of countries, and New Delhi had planned to hold a Quad summit this week. That plan fell through because Biden was unavailable. With inputs from agencies