Macron to Set Tone for an EU Balancing Act Between India and China on Belt and Road

         

Two years after the last visit by his predecessor, Francois Hollande, who was chief guest at the Indian Republic Day parade in 2016, French President Emmanuel Macron will be in India this week on a four-day trip. 

Soon after Macron’s election in May 2017, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited France, underlining his resolve to give a new meaning to Indo-French partnership. Bilateral ties between New Delhi and Paris today cover a gamut of issues including defense, maritime, space, security, and energy. The two nations have managed to carve out a forward-looking partnership that is aimed at strengthening bilateral cooperation on issues such as terrorism, climate change, sustainable growth and development, infrastructure, urbanization, and science and technology.

This is a relationship that is truly strategic in its orientation. Macron will be co-chairing the International Solar Alliance (ISA) with Modi during his visit and the two leaders will also inaugurate a solar power plant at Dadar Kala village in Uttar Pradesh. The ISA is a major Indo-French initiative with around 56 countries having signed the ISA Framework Agreement and 26 nations having already ratified it. It provides a common platform for cooperation among sun-rich nations with the aim of significantly ramping up solar energy, thereby helping to contain global greenhouse emissions as well as providing clean and cheap energy. It is also the first treaty-based international organization to be based in India.

Guided by their desire for strategic autonomy, India and France have been traditional partners and have adapted well to the changing global context. Paris was at the forefront of the campaign to call for a complete integration of New Delhi in the global nuclear order. The United States came much later. French help was crucial for India to enter the multilateral nuclear architecture. During Macron’s visit, the two nations are likely to sign a pact between NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) and EDF (of France) on six nuclear reactors.