Transcript of Special briefing by MEA on Prime Minister's visit to France (February 12, 2025)
India - Ministry of External Affairs
February 12, 2025
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this Press briefing by Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri on the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to France. We also have with us on the dais Additional Secretary Shri Piyush Srivastava who looks after Europe West Division in the Ministry of External Affairs. With that I invite Foreign Secretary to make his opening remarks.
Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, India: Thank you Randhir. Good morning. Thank you all for being here. As you all know Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been on a visit to France from the 10th to the 12th of February at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron. This visit follows unique reciprocal gestures of the leaders being Chief Guests at each other's national days in recent years. President Macron had visited India last year at the 75th Republic Day on 26 January as the Chief Guest and prior to that in 2023 the Prime Minister had visited France on Bastille Day in the month of July.
The current visit of the Prime Minister has two components, as you are aware, he was here to co-chair the Artificial Intelligence Action, AI Action Summit, in Paris yesterday and then there was a bilateral component to the visit both in Paris and in Marseille yesterday, as well as today.
The last couple of days have been packed with a number of engagements, and let me take you through a brief overview of his activities here, and then I'll give you a run through of some of the substantial outcomes that we have seen during this visit.
On arrival in Paris on the 10th of February, shortly thereafter, the Prime Minister attended the dinner being hosted by President Macron in honor of the visiting heads of state and government, leaders of international organizations and the CEOs of tech companies attending the AI Action Summit.
On the following morning, that's yesterday morning, Prime Minister and President Macron co-chaired the AI Action Summit. Prime Minister addressed the plenary session. There's been a detailed press briefing on this yesterday itself in Paris. So I won't go into the details of that.
On the bilateral front, the Prime Minister met with the President of Estonia, President Alar Karis and also with the Vice President of the United States, His Excellency JD Vance.
Following the AI summit, the bilateral component of the visit started with the two leaders jointly addressing the India-France CEOs Forum, which saw the participation of leading businesses from both countries in a variety of areas. Businesses from the sectors of aerospace, defense, innovation, energy, infrastructure, Agro-processing and consumer goods were represented in the room. The Prime Minister acknowledged the key role being played by business leaders in both countries in bringing our two countries closer together and promoting our bilateral relations.
He gave an overview of the next generation of economic reforms that's being pursued in India, which were also previewed in the recent budget that was announced, and invited French companies to explore new opportunities in the India growth story, especially in the areas of defense, civil nuclear possibilities, insurance, and advanced manufacturing.
Yesterday evening, after the CEOs Forum meeting, the two leaders traveled together to Marseille in the French presidential aircraft, an exceptional gesture by President Macron and in fact, emblematic not only of the deep personal trust between the two leaders, but also of the remarkable confidence that they have in each other, and that really characterizes the relationship as well.
The Prime Minister and the President held discussions on-board the aircraft. You could say that India-France relations touched new heights, literally. And these discussions on-board the aircraft on a number of issues continued upon landing in Marseille, where the two leaders were joined by their larger delegations. And the discussions took place over the course of a dinner that was hosted by President Macron in honor of the Prime Minister.
These discussions covered the entire gamut of our deep and diverse strategic partnership. The two leaders reviewed progress in the areas of defense, in the area of space, civil nuclear cooperation, and in the areas of health, as well as people-to-people cooperation between the two sides. There is an outcomes document which is also being circulated, so for the details you could refer to that.
The two leaders appreciated recent progress that has taken place in all of these areas, in keeping with both the Horizon 2047 roadmap and in the defense area, in particular in keeping with the defense industrial roadmap that was adopted last year.
Insofar as cooperation in Artificial Intelligence is concerned, naturally with the just concluded AI Action Summit and the proposal by India, which has been accepted of India hosting the next AI Summit, AI was also a major area of bilateral discussion between the two sides.
The next year, 2026, has been agreed between the two sides as the India-France Year of Innovation, and this will focus a great deal on technology, on innovation, on Startups and academic collaboration between the two countries, and this was also something that was reviewed in the discussions.
Apart from this, the leaders exchanged views on recent geopolitical developments in Europe, in West Asia, in the Indo-Pacific, and discussed a number of these issues of global and regional importance.
Today, there have already been at least three events. Prime Minister started his program with a visit to the Mazargues War Cemetery, where he was joined by President Macron to pay tribute to Indian soldiers who laid down their lives in the First and Second World Wars.
Following that, in yet another exceptional and special gesture, the two leaders jointly inaugurated the new Indian Consulate General in Marseille, which had been announced by Prime Minister during his visit to Paris in July 2023. I can't recall too many consulates that have been jointly inaugurated by a President and the Prime Minister, so this was a really, really special occasion, and it speaks to, once again, the kind of friendship, the sense of comfort, and the sentiments that are shared by the two leaders and our two peoples.
The two leaders, thereafter, left for the port of Marseille, where I think they might have just finished by now. And the last engagement on this part of the program is a visit by the two leaders to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Facility, ITER, in Cadarache, which, as you are all familiar, is not too far from here. In fact, if you hear helicopters in the air, then that's the two leaders traveling to ITER.
Coming to the outcomes from the visit, let me point at outcomes in four major areas. I should say that there is a Joint Statement that has been released. So you can refer to the Joint Statement for details. I think it's either already on our website or will be posted there very shortly.
Firstly, with the hosting, as I said, the proposed hosting of the next AI summit by India and the designation of 2026 as the India-France Year of Innovation, our Strategic Partnership is entering into a new era focused on innovation, on science, and on technology. The two countries have adopted a separate declaration on Artificial Intelligence, which identifies our key priorities in this area and explores the possibilities of cooperation in view of the large alignment that we see between India and France insofar as AI is concerned. For instance, our shared commitment to promoting the development of safe, secure, and trustworthy AI for the public good.
At the CEOs Forum yesterday, the two leaders also launched the logo of the India-France Year of Innovation in 2026, and I would encourage you to take a look at the logo that has been agreed, which represents, in a sense, the synergy between India and France.
There were also outcomes in the areas of digital sciences and startup collaboration, which are contained in the list of outcomes that is being released separately.
Secondly, in the area of civil nuclear energy cooperation, the two sides have concluded a declaration of intent on collaboration in co-designing, co-developing, and co-producing Small Modular Reactors and Advanced Modular Reactors. The two sides will also be cooperating in the field of capacity building of researchers and professionals in this field.
Given the coming revolution in AI and the demands that it will make on the energy vector, this particular area of cooperation and development of SMRs and AMRs is a particularly promising vector for India-France cooperation into the future.
Thirdly, on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, we have concluded a joint declaration of intent for triangular development cooperation. Our partnership in the Indo-Pacific looks at providing solutions to countries in this region for their economic progress and their development in furtherance of the India-France roadmap on the Indo-Pacific. And the idea is for the two countries to 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.
As always, in keeping with our philosophy and philosophy which I think France shares, is for these projects to be demand-driven and not supply-driven, and for the projects to be owned by the countries in which they are situated.
Fourthly, and finally, we have substantial outcomes in the fields of cultural and people-to-people ties. I've already referred to the joint inauguration earlier today of the new Indian Consulate General in Marseille. Both leaders have also given directions for early implementation of the agreement between the National Museum of India and France Muséums Développement, under which France has been identified as a knowledge partner in building India's new national museum, The Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum.
The two sides have also operationalized the young professional scheme, which will help in promoting legal mobility of professionals, of skilled workforce, and students in both directions.
As I said, a Joint Statement has been adopted, and this, together with the bilateral Artificial Intelligence Declaration and the list of outcomes, is available to you, or will be made available shortly.
So as you can see, the India-France relationship, the strategic partnership I should say, which has just completed 25 years, has seen consistent and all-round progress as per the three pillars of the Horizon 2047 roadmap, which is partnership for security and sovereignty, partnership for the planet, and partnership for the people.
This ongoing visit has further solidified our longstanding partnership in the strategic areas of defense and security, space, civil nuclear cooperation, economic cooperation, and has laid down the markers for its diversification into newer areas of critical and emerging technologies of innovation, renewable energy, environment, health, education, and culture, and has played a major role in further strengthening the already exceptional bonds that exist between our two countries and between our two peoples.
Let me stop there, and I can take a few questions before we have to leave. Thank you.
Jessica Taneja, DD India: This is Jessica Taneja for DD India. There was a letter of intent signed for SMRs and AMRs, as you were mentioning earlier. Could you tell us a bit more about that?
Sahil Pandey, ANI: Sir, I'm Sahil Pandey from ANI News Agency. Sir, you talked about the trilateral format, the cooperation between the countries. How do you look at the future of the trilateral, and what projects they would like to converge on?
Shri Vikram Misri, Foreign Secretary, India: Okay, let me take these two questions. I think on the letter of intent related to SMRs and AMRs, this is something that's been under discussion for some time. As you're aware, the area of civil nuclear cooperation as such is not a new one between India and France.
We've been discussing, for instance, cooperation in the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project for some time. That, of course, is a very large project. It has multiple aspects related to technology, to finance, also to issues related to civil liability.
The area of SMRs and AMRs has come up in more recent times, but has progressed quite quickly and the reason that you see a letter of intent is because both countries feel that there are real possibilities in taking this forward in the very near future.
So the idea on this particular front is to start cooperation because this is a technology that is still in its initial stages, even in countries which have been working on it for some time. Therefore, our intent is to be able to cooperate in co-designing the reactors, co-developing them, and co-producing them. This, we feel, will actually allow us to tackle the complications that we are, for instance, facing in other areas insofar as conventional projects are concerned.
So if we, from the outset itself, get into co-designing, co-producing, and co-developing SMRs and AMRs, I think it can leverage the industrial ecosystem in India that already exists for nuclear components and nuclear power plants, and both of us will benefit from that. So the letter of intent essentially proceeds from that perspective.
And as I said, the demand for SMRs and AMRs has already been identified. The fact that Artificial Intelligence is, I think you might have heard the comments of Mr. Fatih Birol yesterday, the DG of the International Energy Agency, that Artificial Intelligence essentially means electricity. And the amount of electricity that will be needed, if it is going to be sustainable, then it has to be something like nuclear power-driven electricity. And that is the area in which SMRs and AMRs can play a key role. And that's what this letter of intent sets out to do.
On the trilateral cooperation, the idea essentially is, for us, I think I have mentioned this, to look at delivering projects in a whole host of areas in third countries by seeing how we can leverage our respective strengths and our capabilities, whether it is in terms of financial support or technical collaboration or capacity-building collaboration.
The choice of projects will obviously be driven by host countries. I said these are demand-driven initiatives and not supply-driven initiatives. And we feel that it is important for us to provide choices to countries amongst our partners to have choices with regard to development cooperation pathways.
So if they want to develop projects in the areas of climate, energy, infrastructure, health, education, etc., we would want to be able to provide them with alternatives. And I think India and France have a certain alignment in their thinking about this kind of cooperation.
So this joint declaration of intent will essentially try to tackle that particular issue.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: So with that, we come to the close of this press briefing. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation.
Marseilles
February 12, 2025
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