India and France have signed 14 agreements including in the Defence sector. The deals have been signed in security, trade and investment sectors as well when the French President Emmanuel Macron met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
The French President and the Indian PM held bilateral talks after the former and his wife were given a customary ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by Narendra Modi along with President Ram Nath Kovind.
The French President is on a four-day visit and is accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie Claude-Macron as well as other top delegates. He arrived late at night yesterday and was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Delhi airport.
PM Modi, while jointly addressing the media along with Emmanuel Macron, said that both India and France are two strong independent nations in the world.
"This is not about the meeting of two nations. Two cultures having same thoughts have bound together today. Liberty, equality and fraternity are not only inscribed in French constitution but in Indian constitution as well", Modi said.
The Prime Minister also said that both nations must work together for the strategic co-operation in the Indian Ocean. He invited the French companies to invest in India's defence sector keeping in line with the "Make in India" programme.
Meanwhile Emmanuel Macron said that the defence ties between the two countries hold a lot of significance and asserted that India and France have decided work together to thwart the threats of radicalisation and terrorism.
