Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit France and Germany next week during which he will have bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been re-elected, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Sources told The Daily Guardian that PM Modi is likely to visit the two countries from 2 May to 6 May. “Details related to the visits are being worked out,” sources added.
Highly-placed sources told The Daily Guardian that PM Modi’s ambitious project “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) will be high on agenda when he meets the French and German leaders. He will also address the India-Nordic summit in Copenhagen. Amid the global debate on the need for India to cut its dependency on exports of defence equipment or other materials from Russia, the Modi government has put the self-reliance project on priority, with PM Modi giving it impetus during all his meetings with world leaders. Over the past few weeks, PM Modi made it a point to urge all the leaders he met to come and invest in India in what will give a boost to the self-reliance initiatives so that dependency on exports could be reduced. “If they want us to cut dependency on Russia or any other countries, then they should also cooperate with us,” said an official.
Top diplomatic sources said that PM Modi would give the Atmanirabhar project a further push during his interactions with President Macron who has been showing a keen interest in ramping up defence ties with India particularly in terms of manufacturing in the defence sector. Similarly, PM Modi’s agenda will include giving fillip to the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission during his talks with the German Chancellor as well. “The German government will be urged to see that the companies there ramp up their investments in India,” said sources.
According to sources, PM Modi will elaborate on his vision about the self-reliance of India during his talks with the two leaders. “The vision is that the project merges domestic production and consumption with global supply chains,” said sources. There is no denying that France is one of India’s closest allies. Therefore, Paris wants to set up defence manufacturing units in critical technologies in collaboration with private players in India. “But due to Covid-19, and the other unavoidable circumstances, the talks on some of the projects are waiting to make a headway. PM Modi will see that the hurdles are done away with,” an official said. Sources further said that France and India will move ahead on the pending plans in the defence manufacturing sector, which will be of strategic importance.
India and France have very close political and defence relationships, with both sides willing to assist each other in areas of critical and emerging technologies apart from having similar views on the Indo-Pacific. Since Macron understands India’s position on Ukraine, the French President will not thrust his views on the Russian invasion. However, he will put his perspective on the Ukraine situation, sources said. Being close partners in the Indo-Pacific, France and India are on the same page on freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and on issues related to Beijing’s assertiveness. These issues will also come up when PM Modi and Macron discuss the Indo-Pacific, an official said.