Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Happy Republic Day to all of you, and a very warm welcome to this Special Press Briefing by Foreign Secretary on the State visit of President Macron. We are also joined by our Ambassador to France, Shri Jawed Ashraf. First, I will invite Foreign Secretary to make some opening remarks, and thereafter we can take questions from all of you. Sir, the floor is yours.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you, Randhir, Ambassador Jawed Ashraf, our friends from the media, very good afternoon. Bharat ke is Gantantra diwas pe aap sabko hardik shubhkamnayain (Greetings on the Republic Day of India to all of you). As you all know, French President, His Excellency Mr. Emmanuel Macron is currently on a State visit to India, and he's also the Chief Guest for India's Republic Day, today. President Macron landed in Jaipur yesterday afternoon, and in a rare gesture, Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji traveled to Jaipur to welcome him there. In Jaipur, President Macron experienced rich and vibrant cultural tapestry of Rajasthan. He also visited, during his short but very busy trip to Jaipur, to Amber Fort, Jantar Mantar, and Hawa Mahal. Honorable Prime Minister accompanied him to the last two legs of his visit in Jaipur, that is Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal. Thereafter in Jaipur itself, Prime Minister and President held restricted talks over the dinner. The topics of discussion between the two leaders included areas of priority and focus in our bilateral partnership, as also issues of interest and significance, regionally and globally.
Today, President Macron witnessed the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi. All of us also saw the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the French Foreign Legion marching past the Kartavya Path earlier this morning, alongside France's two Rafale aircraft and one Phenix multirole transport tanker, which flew in the skies above. This evening, in fact later this afternoon, President Macron would attend the at-home reception hosted by Honorable Rashtrapati ji. And in a departure from a normal convention, Honorable Rashtrapati ji will also host a state banquet in honor of President Macron later in the evening today.
French President is accompanied by a 40-member strong delegation. The delegation includes three Ministers; Ministers’ of Foreign Affairs, Defence and Culture. In fact, as we speak, External Affairs Minister is meeting his French counterpart, the newly appointed Foreign Minister of France, Mr. Stéphane Séjourné. President Macron's visit comes after the historic visit of Prime Minister Modi to Paris in July last year, where Prime Minister Modi was the Guest of Honor on the occasion of the French National Day, which also commemorated the 25th anniversary of the India-France strategic partnership. You would recall that last year at the Bastille Day Parade, Punjab Regiment and Rajputana Rifle troops had marched on the Champs-Élysées Avenue of Paris. It is not very often, as evidence would show, that the leaders of two countries are Guests of Honor in each other's successive National Day celebrations. Also, this is the sixth time that a French leader has come for India's Republic Day, maximum for any country. Also this is President Macron's third visit to India, after his first State visit in his previous tenure in March 2018, and second for the G20 Leaders’ Summit in September last year.
The two leaders have had extensive exchanges over the last year, having met six times alone in 2023, and four times in the last six months alone, a clear reflection of the importance attached by both the leaders to this partnership, as also the intensity of high-level supervision and direction to the relationship. The salience of India-France partnership has only grown in today's complex geopolitical environment and in pursuit, of course, of our national priorities and interests. You would recall that in July last year, the two sides had adopted the Horizon-2047 Roadmap and Indo-Pacific Roadmap, thus laying out a clear long-term vision of partnership, both in bilateral space as also what would be shared priorities globally. The partnership over the years has shown all-round progress across all the domains, including of defence, security, nuclear energy, space, increasingly in areas such as clean energy, blue economy, biodiversity, science and technology, digital domain, and in the field of commerce and economic cooperation. Our international cooperation has expanded from multilateral institutions to security in the Indo-Pacific and has also included now addressing, working together to address global challenges.
If I could just briefly list out the key outcomes and general announcements related to the visit, following the discussions between the two leaders, you would get the details of this in a joint statement once that's finalized, the delegations are working on it. First is the roadmap…these are the documents which have been agreed upon; roadmap on the India-France defence, industrial roadmap actually. Two, an agreement on defence-space partnership; three, an MoU between New Space India Limited (NSIL) and Arianespace with regard to satellite launches; partnership, industrial partnership between Tata and Airbus helicopters for production of H125 helicopters with a significant indigenous and localization component; agreement between Department of Science and Technology, two agreements actually, and the counterpart French institutions with regard to joint research in clean energy, mainly de-carbonized hydrogen, applied mathematics, digital technologies, and precision agriculture. Also, an agreement between two Ministries of health on healthcare cooperation, education, training and research. This would include the space of digital health and use of artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector. Also, an agreement on cooperation in the fields of public administration and reforms and sustainable urban developments.
Besides, in terms of announcement, it's been agreed that the year 2026 will be celebrated as India-France year of innovation. And following up on the decision which was taken during the Prime Minister's visit to France last year, the Indian Consulate in southern city of France in Marseille, and the French Bureau in Hyderabad, are now fully ready to be operational. Three, announcement on Young Professional Scheme to essentially promote exchanges of professionals between 18 and 35 years of age under the overall framework of India-France migration and mobility partnership agreement. Also, activation of five-year validity Schengen visa for Indian Masters alumni, the Indian students who pursue their Master's degree from the French tertiary institutions. Announcement also by both the countries to set up a solar academy in Senegal under the STAR-C program of the International Solar Alliance, which as you know, India and France had launched in 2015, and other announcement with regard to French support, which has always been very strong and forthcoming, for India's candidacy to the International Energy Agency, as also India’s support to the third UN Ocean Conference to be co-hosted by France and Costa Rica in Nice in 2025. These are, as you can see from the agreements that have been arrived at and the announcements that the two sides will make, it has been a visit which has been very heavy in terms of its substantive outcome, as also the richness of discussions between the two leaders. I would stop here and take questions. Thank you.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: We’ll now open the floor for questions. Please do take your name and your organization before you ask the questions, so that we have our transcript in order.
Sidhant: Hi, Sir. Sidhant from WION. My question is, you talked about the defence aspect. If you can elaborate on that bit, especially, were there any conversation on the Rafale M and the Scorpions Submarine, which is something part of conversation between the two sides?
Manish Chand: Manish Chand, India Writes Network. Sir, building on the talks in July, what new measures were discussed to enhance collaboration in the Indian Ocean and Indo-Pacific? And talking of Indo-Pacific, was there a discussion about subversive activities by any other power, you know, external power? Thank you.
John: Yes, thank you. John Reed, the Financial Times. Thank you for the briefing and Happy Republic Day to all of you. I had a question about the French freelance journalist Vanessa Dougnac, who's on the verge of losing her right to reside in India. She's a long-term resident of India and foreign correspondent. I guess I had two questions. Did this figure come up at all, even briefly, in the talks between the two leaders or the two sides? And in some of the remarks we've seen quoted from Indian MEA officials, there was a suggestion that her visa status was being tied to what she had written in India. And I'm curious about whether MEA or the Indian government has an opinion about her journalism. And if so, what is that? Thank you.
Sudhi: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from the Bloomberg. If you could give us a little bit more on the Space MoU that has happened. And also, Sir, if you could clarify whether there were talks between India and France on Safran engines for the fighter jet, the twin-engine fighter jet that India is building, Sir.
Yeshi: This is Yeshi Seli from The New Indian Express. You spoke about migration and mobility and talked about a five-year Schengen visa for students applying for their Masters. Was the talk also about Indians working in France and vice versa during the conversation you had on the subject?
Huma: Sir, I'm Huma Siddiqui from the Financial Express. Sir, I have two questions. One, was the India-EU FTA discussed during the talks? And also, in the Space sector, you were talking that there is a partnership agreement on launching satellites. So would the satellites be launched here from India or France?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much. Sidhant, with regard to the question on the defence cooperation between India and France, as I mentioned to you, the two countries have agreed to adopt a defence production roadmap. Now, the name itself is very clear that the focus and the priority of defence cooperation through this roadmap is to actually identify opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector that prioritize co-designing, co-development, co-production, and also building the defence supply chains between the two countries, so that they can not only fulfill the defence needs of India and France, but also can be a useful contributor to the security partnership with other countries who might be in use of similar products.
In terms of the range of domains, including the technology space that the industrial roadmap will aim to achieve, it would include both air and space technologies, maritime technology; including the underwater domain awareness, it's a new space which is coming up; naturally, the equipment and the systems related to the land warfare, and also robotics and artificial intelligence as also autonomous vehicles and platforms, and cyber defence. So the focus of conversation, and this flows from what the two countries agreed in the 2047 Horizon Vision document, is to focus on defence production and manufacturing in a manner that you can harness the compatibilities and competencies which the two economies have, and the two engineering systems have, and then use it to further strengthen your defence cooperation.
Manish, with regard to the Indian Ocean and the Indo-Pacific, now that is a space which has been one of the key pillars of our cooperation in previous decades also. It's an ongoing conversation. As you know very well, India and France are both resident powers in this part of the world, and the challenges and the opportunities which both countries face in Indian Ocean region and also the Indo-Pacific, and what are the new areas in which India and France can cooperate actually to; one, mitigate the challenges; two, harvest the opportunities which exist both in the Indian Ocean countries and also the hinterland countries. That has always been a very important priority of discussion between the leaders and discussions this time were no exception.
With regard to the issue relating to the French person you mentioned, Mrs. Vanessa Dougnac, I think if I pronounced the name correctly, we are aware of the matter. This matter is being dealt by the relevant department in the Government of India. And I think the key element in this to focus is the frame of reference in which we look at it. The frame of reference to look at is, the compliance with the rules and regulations of the country. I don't think this has got anything else to do with the other aspects of journalism, etc. People are free to do what they are accredited to do in a given space. But here, I think the principal issue is whether the person is compliant with the rules and regulations of the state, under which they come.
Sudhi, with regard to the Space, if I could just highlight this. You know very well, that Space has been one of the key anchors of India-France strategic partnership. The letter of intent that two countries have agreed this time would essentially focus on areas such as space situational awareness, which is very important to build an understanding of the kind of traffic which is up there in the Space. Collision avoidance, again, because of traffic; naturally, Earth monitoring from the space; Remote sensing, communications, and broadcasting; and also, equally importantly, industrial cooperation between the two countries to further expand and deepen our cooperation in this space. There was also a related understanding which was arrived at between the NewSpace India Limited and the Arianespace. This is essentially, if I was to capture the crux of it, is on the optimization of the satellite launches between the two countries. France has some very strong satellite launching capability, so does India. And the idea is how do these two institutions come together to optimize these capacities, including through the best and the maximum use of the satellite launch windows that might be available.
Indians working in France. Again, this is not really a new thing. This has been going on for some years. And France was among the first countries with whom India signed the mobility partnership agreement. There is a fairly strong Indian student community and also the professional community in France. The arrangements that I talked about in my remarks this time; one, relating to the youth exchanges between the ages 18 and 35; and also the activation of five-year Schengen visa for those students who pursue their Master's program in French tertiary institution; essentially complements the mobility partnership agreement; and expands the professionals on both sides, the contribution they can make to the two respective economies. To my knowledge, there were no discussions on India-EU FTA. But the two leaders did meet alone also, one on one. So I would not rule it out entirely. But to my understanding, it was not there. But if the two leaders discussed, we can double check and get back to you on that one. Thank you.
Speaker: (inaudible)…it is for the fighter jet program.
Shri Jawed Ashraf, Ambassador of India to France: This is a subject of ongoing discussions between DRDO’s ADA, GTRE, and Safran. Now, the issue is really about arriving at a set of specifications that comply with our future fighter jet requirements. So, this always features in the conversation between the President and the Prime Minister, because what we are looking for is not just manufacturing, transfer of technology, which essentially keeps you going with the same crutches that you have been going on for the last six decades, but to work in the actual design phase, metallurgical aspects, etc. So, Safran is fully willing to do it with 100% transfer of technology, 100% transfer of technology in design, development, certification, production, and so on and so forth. But it's obviously a very complex subject. And it has to fit in with the overall future requirements. So, these discussions will continue to take place. And that's also part of the defence industrial roadmap.
Ayushi: Sir, this is Ayushi Agarwal from ANI. I just wanted to know how much were the ongoing conflicts, like Israel-Gaza, Russia-Ukraine, or the situation in the Red Sea discussed between the two leaders.
Sridhar: Sir, Sridhar from the Asian Age and Deccan Chronicle. Sir, you mentioned about the defence industrial roadmap, co-design, co-development, co-production. But I wanted to know the specific status of the plan to acquire the 26 naval variant of the Rafales. What is the stage? Is it still under discussion? Or is it finalized? What's going on in that? And also, the plan to build three submarines. There was a reference to it in the Joint Communique, last year, briefly, it was then pulled down. So just on these two aspects, and on the civil nuclear also, is there any forward movement? Thank you.
Smita: Hi, Smita Sharma. I work independently. Just two quick related questions. One, the issue of Vanessa Dougnac, the journalist. Has it been raised by the French authorities, either during the talks or in the lead up to the talks? And because we've seen the Desert Knight operations between the Air Force personnel of UAE, India and France in the Arabian Sea region. Are we looking at, perhaps, broader military cooperation towards maritime security in the Red Sea region?
Suhasini: I'll just build on Smita's question. This is Suhasini Haider from The Hindu. India and France, were there discussions on the two countries working in third regions, in a sense, not just Indo-Pacific, but also in the Middle-East, and what specifically they are? I also just had a request, which is that if the Joint Statement could be brought out before the Press Conference, it's easier for us to actually know what we're asking about. Because otherwise, it comes in reverse. Another question, just to follow up on the civil nuclear deal. It's 15 years since the MoU, three years since the techno commercial offer came from France for the Jaitapur project. There are discussions now on SMRs, I understand. But should we assume that the Jaitapur project, for 9900 megawatts or so, is on pause, is not moving forward, and is it essentially about the issues they have over the legal issues, or is it about costing?
Akhilesh: Sir, I'm Akhilesh Suman, I'm freelancing now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Macron at a time when Gaza and Israel are fighting. So, was there any idea, was there any convergence on the issue that how to create peace in that region, because it is also affecting Indian interests in many parts of the world?
Milan: Sir, Milan from India today. Just want to understand, and if you could elaborate on the Indo-Pacific Triangular Development Cooperation Fund if that was discussed. And also on a lighter note, because the French President was immersed in Indian culture, and he was also handed over a replica of the Ram Mandir temple, what was the kind of conversation between Prime Minister Modi as well as French President? The last time he visited, he spoke about how moving his visit to Banaras was. So anything on that?
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much. Let me start with the question surrounding this entire set of issues relating to the developments in the region, Russia-Ukraine conflict, what's happening in the Red Sea, Akhilesh ji, you talked about what's happening in Gaza. As I mentioned to you in my opening remarks, that the two leaders, when they met, they discussed not just areas of priority and focus in our bilateral partnership, but also focused quite a lot on what's happening in different parts of the world. Naturally, the ongoing conflict in Gaza and its various dimensions, the terror dimension, the humanitarian dimension, the civil disruption dimension, all those things came up for discussion, and both leaders shared their perspective. With regard to developments in the Red Sea, naturally, the disruptions, the potential disruption and the actual things happening in the maritime domain there, which is causing disruption to the commercial shipping, indeed is a matter of serious concern, and both leaders focused on it.
With regard to a related point, which was raised as to whether they agreed to work together on these points. I think we have always been…India has always been in very strong partnerships with different stakeholders in this maritime space on a range of areas which are there, commercial shipping, right from the days of piracy and even going before that, before 2008, we have always had very strong partnerships with different players. It is important because those partnerships help you build an information matrix in which you can then respond to protect your commercial shipping interest, and also other maritime security interests. So yes, we have been working with other partners, coordinating with them in terms of information, etc, in terms of the maritime security in particular.
With regard to the economic dimension of partnership in third countries, that was another point which was brought out; yes, that has been, for quite some time, a very strong area of focus when we talk what we can do in other countries. And in this regard, the countries of the Indo-Pacific, countries of the Indian Ocean region, some of the countries in Africa, I talked about one of the announcements of a project under International Solar Alliance, and the point relating to the Indo-Pacific Fund that you talked about, essentially comes in that, and this is not the first country with which India has set up such funds. We have done similar partnerships with Germany, we have done similar partnerships with UK, and France adds to this list of growing partnerships that India has, to see how the capacities and complementarities of the two countries, two systems, come together to pursue our shared interests and objectives in the third countries.
With regard to the nuclear space that you asked…it would not be really fair for me to comment on really your assumptions, whether it's on pause or not, those are your assumptions. But what I would say is that, there are several elements of the civil nuclear energy partnership that needs to be kept in mind. There is of course the whole lot of technical and engineering elements. You mentioned about the techno-commercial arrangement that the two countries had agreed on, on this close to 10,000 megawatt project. There are elements relating to putting in place a financing mechanism that begins to address such things. There are issues relating to the localization, which both the EDF and the NPCIL are working together. So, the two entities on both sides, the NPCIL on the Indian side and the EDF on the French side, have essentially been trying to move forward on these issues and whole lot of progress has been made in order to ensure that what we put on the ground is; one, financially viable, cost effective, has a localization component. But we are doing so under a very strong strategic commitment to the partnership on civil nuclear energy space. So from our side, the perspective on the principles in which we view this partnership, the specifics, the way we take it forward, is absolutely clear. SMR is a relatively new space in terms of discussions between the two countries, smaller size, but the issues pertaining to engineering elements of it and you would know that India has its own reasonably strong SMR programme. So technology needs to come together, the viability needs to come together and its positioning in the overall energy mix needs to come together. So those are very positive, forward-leaning, ongoing conversations between the two countries and that's the frame in which we would put it.
With regard to the journalist that you mentioned, I have already mentioned to you the frame of reference we look it at. This has been brought to our attention by the French side, both prior to the visit and during the visit, and we have shared with them and they appreciate this understanding that the frame of reference in which we are looking at is the compliance of the rules and the relevant departments are seized of the matter and looking at it from all the angles that there are to look at it.
Look, those are, you know, on the marine part of the Rafale aircraft, those came up during the 2047 Global Vision document also and you would remember the Presser that we did afterwards. The visits are not focused on individual transactions. I have mentioned this several times that the India-France strategic partnership, when that strategic partnership looks at defence cooperation, security cooperation, it looks at it from a very holistic perspective, one; it looks at it a perspective that how it strengthens the sovereignty and the strategic security space between the two countries. It doesn't look at it from the perspective of a set of transactions or the trade-related transactions. That is why, as I mentioned to you, the defence industrial production roadmap, I have just given you kind of, you know, a very top line essence of it. If you go into the depth of it, you will find the substance of partnership is far extensive, far deeper compared to just one or two transactions that one would focus on. Thank you.
Speaker: (Inaudible)
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: As I mentioned to you, visits are not about individual transactions or specifics. Thank you.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: With that, we come to the end of this Special Press Briefing. Thank you very much for your participation and do stay tuned for all the updates from our side. The visit is still on. Thank you.
Shri Vinay Kwatra, Foreign Secretary: Thank you very much.