Pratap Chakravarty
Thu, December 28, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron will preside over India’s Republic Day celebrations next month to cap the 25th anniversary of strategic military ties worth billions of euros for France's arms industry.
Delhi's invitation to the French president came after US leader Joe Biden declined an offer to be the guest of honour at the 26 January parade.
Macron will become the sixth French leader to attend the annual military extravaganza since 1976.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is returning the honour after Macron invited him to attend France’s traditional military parade on Bastille Day on 14 July.
“As strategic partners, India and France share a high degree of convergence on a range of regional and global issues,” India’s External Affairs Ministry said.
It will be the second meeting between Macron and Modi since September, when the two leaders promised to take India-France relations to new heights during talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi.
Delhi G20 summit ends with mixed success
France is India’s closest strategic partner in Europe and its second-largest arms supplier after Russia, having edged past the US last year.
France now supplies 29 percent of India’s military hardware imports, and is hoping for more.
In Moscow to meet Putin and Lavrov, India's foreign minister praises growing trade
Wed, December 27, 2023
MOSCOW (AP) — India's foreign minister met Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said relations between the countries are progressing even amid turbulent times.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar's meeting was part of a five-day visit. At the start of the meeting, Putin said he would inform the Indian diplomat about the fighting in Ukraine, on which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has held a neutral stance.
"I know about his desire to do everything to resolve this problem through peaceful means,” Putin said.
India is increasingly important to Russia as a market for oil exports, the backbone of its economy, as Western sanctions curtail oil shipments.
“It is very important to make our trade interaction more sustainable. We need to think about how to achieve this,” Jaishankar said, according to a Kremlin transcript of the meeting's opening.
Jaishankar also met with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, who said they discussed “the prospects for military-technical cooperation, including the joint production of modern types of weapons.”
India’s foreign minister praised the “all-time high” trade turnover between the two countries, which he said exceeded $50 billion in 2022.
“We expect to exceed that this year. And what is important is that this trade is more balanced, it is sustainable, and it provides for fair market access,” he said.
The Associated Press
Russia, India closer to joint military equipment production - minister
Reuters
Wed, December 27, 2023 at 5:15 a.m. MST·1 min read
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov meets India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia and India have made tangible progress in talks on plans to jointly produce military equipment, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday, after talks with his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar in Moscow.
Speaking at a news conference, Lavrov said such cooperation was of a strategic nature and was in both countries' interests and would help ensure security on the Eurasian continent.
He said Moscow respected India's desire to diversify its military hardware suppliers and was ready too to support New Delhi's desire to manufacture things needed by India in India.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet Jaishankar later on Wednesday.
Jaishankar said he expected Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to meet next year.
Jaishankar said he and Lavrov had discussed the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as bilateral trade and investment.
India has become one of Russia's core economic partners since the West in 2022 imposed sweeping sanctions on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
Russia has diverted much of its oil exports to India and stepped up diplomacy within the BRICS group of nations, a grouping of which both countries are founding members.
According to Jaishankar, Indian-Russian trade is expected to top $50 billion this year.
He said New Delhi was keen to sign a bilateral investment treaty with Russia as well as a free trade agreement with the Moscow-led Eurasian Economic Union.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Andrew Osborn)
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