Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting over lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron during the G-20 Leaders’ Summit at New Delhi on September 10, 2023. They exchanged views on important international and regional developments.
The two leaders discussed, assessed and reviewed the progress in bilateral relations since their last meeting in July, 2023 in Paris.
Macron’s visit to India comes after the historic visit of PM Modi to Paris on July 13-14, 2023 as the Guest of Honour on the occasion of French National Day on 14 July 2023, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the India-France strategic partnership.
Both leaders discussed overall progress and next steps on the implementation of the new and ambitious goals for cooperation in areas of defense, space, nuclear energy, digital public infrastructure, critical technology, climate change, education, and people-to-people contacts. They also carried forward their discussions on India-France partnership in the Indo Pacific region and Africa, including in infrastructure, connectivity, energy, biodiversity, sustainability and industrial projects.
French President Macron congratulated Prime Minister Modi on India’s success of Mission Chandrayaan 3. The two leaders recalled six decades of India-France Space cooperation and reviewed the progress since holding of the first Strategic Space Dialogue in June 2023.
Both leaders reiterated their commitment to strengthen the defence cooperation through partnership in design, development, testing and manufacture of advanced defence technologies and platforms, and expand production in India, including for third countries in Indo-Pacific and beyond.
PM Modi thanked French President Macron for France’s continued support to India’s Presidency of G-20, which had advanced inclusiveness, unity and cohesion in international efforts to address global challenges and build a more stable global order. India and France also welcomed African Union’s membership to the G-20 and look to work with AU, for the progress, prosperity and development of Africa.