French President meets Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind
French President Emmanuel Macron met President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, here on Saturday. Earlier in the day, French president Macron, in a joint statement with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressed upon deepening the trade alliance between France and India. President Macron arrived in India on Thursday for a four-day visit. "During 18th and 19th century many French writers had travelled to India and found a lot of inspiration and tried to translate a lot of works from Sanskrit to French. Not just French Indian had inspired writers of all places", President Macron said. He further inclined towards building submarines in India under the Make in India initiative, spoke of the countries to work together on the issues of terrorism including financing of terror activities and radicalisation on the internet. Macron insisted upon making India as the first strategic partner of France. He said, "After 20 years of strategic partnership between the two countries, now we should focus on our activities in the India Ocean as part of our strategic activities are based on the Indian Ocean and also in the Pacific." Macron said, "We would discuss bringing certain changes in the education policy of the country to ensure that the degrees obtained by the Indian students in France are recognized in India and outside". He further expressed his willingness to invest in the Indian economy in sectors, including generation of electrical energy, aqua-food business and technology. Focusing on the trade partnership of France and India, Macron emphasised on maintain a Balance of International trade to avoid any trade-wars. He also invited Prime Minister of India to become the guest of honour at the coronation ceremony of 140 Indian soldiers who risked their lives for the freedom of France. -PTC News
