PM Modi’s France Visit LIVE Updates: Military ties to take centre stage as Modi visits France
Narendra Modi France Visit LIVE News: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi begins a two-day visit to France on Thursday where he will attend the traditional Bastille Day military parade as guest of honour and discuss major new defence deals, AFP reported.French President Emmanuel Macron's red-carpet welcome for the Hindu nationalist leader comes weeks after Modi was given the rare honour of a White House state dinner in Washington -- a city he was once banned from visiting.Despite differences over the war in Ukraine and tensions over human rights in India, New Delhi and Western democracies are keen on deepening ties because of mutual concerns about China."India is one of the pillars of our Indo-Pacific strategy," an aide to Macron told reporters this week on condition of anonymity.Macron has made Modi guest of honour for the July 14 military parade, which kicks off France's national day celebrations, with the participation of Indian troops and Indian-flown French-made fighter jets underlining close defence ties.India is one of the biggest buyers of French arms, with Modi announcing a landmark deal for 36 Rafale fighter jets during a trip to Paris in 2015 that was worth around 4.0 billion euros ($4.24 billion) at the time.He is set to unveil the purchase of another 26 marine versions of the state-of-the-art aircraft during this visit, as well as a deal for three Scorpene-class submarines, according to reports by the Tribune news website in France and the Hindustan Times newspaper in India.
New Delhi is seeking to rapidly modernise its armed forces, with fears about China's assertiveness heightened by simmering disputes along its Himalayan frontier, AFP reported.Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to France is likely to
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