Modi’s Day 1 in Italy: Bonding with Britain, France

\BORGO EGNAZIA (ITALY): It’s the day of Europe for India’s Prime Miniter Narendra Modi at the G7 summit in Italy as he held bilateral talks with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to advance and elevate ties with these Western democracies.

Focus France

The talks between Mr Modi and Macron focused on scaling up India-France ties in key areas of defence, nuclear, space, education, climate action, digital public infrastructure, and connectivity. The primary focus of the Modi-Macron talks was on implementing the ‘Horizon 2047’ Roadmap and the Indo-Pacific Roadmap which was charted a year ago to take strategic partnership to the next level.

Predictably, the talks centres on the next steps in India-France defence partnership under the template of ‘Make in India’ model of co-production and co-development.

The two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the realms of AI, critical and emerging technologies, energy and sports. They decided to work closely in context of the forthcoming AI Summit and United Nations Oceans Conference, both to be hosted in France in 2025, said a statement from India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

The two leaders agreed that “a strong and trusted Strategic Partnership between India and France is crucial for a stable and prosperous global order and agreed to work closely to make it scale greater heights.”

Bonding with Britain

In his bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the primary focus was on intensifying negotiations for concluding the Free Trade Agreement, which will pave the way for accelerating India-UK economic relations. The talks also covered enhancing bilateral collaboration in semiconductors, technology, trade, security, and defence.

The overarching thrust of PM Modi’s participation in the G7 summit in Italy is to showcase India as a bridge-builder between the North and the South in a world polarised by geopolitical rivalries.

(Manish Chand Editor-in-Chief, India Writes Network and CEO, Centre for Global India Insights, a think tank focused on global affairs. He is currently in Fasano, Italy to report on and analyse the G7 summit and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy).

Author Profile

Manish Chand

Manish Chand is Founder-CEO and Editor-in-Chief of India Writes Network (www.indiawrites.org) and India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international affairs. He is CEO/Director of TGII Media Private Limited, an India-based media, publishing, research and consultancy company.