Modi, Macron push for deeper economic ties

France's Emmanuel Macron and India's Narendra Modi pledged to deepen economic cooperation between their two countries, at an Franco-Indian business forum in Paris.

While the French President insisted on the importance of building ties to reduce dependency on the United States and China, the Indian Prime Minister called on French business leaders to invest in his country.

Modi embarked on a visit to France to co-chair an artificial intelligence summit in Paris with Macron.

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has encouraged French businesses to seize the vast opportunities in India and collaborate in key sectors such as technology, innovation, and sustainable development.

He emphasised India’s progressive approach to foreign investment, noting that the government had fully opened the insurance sector to 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

"This is the time to come to India. This is the right time to come to India. When India progresses, it creates progress all over the world. This is what we see in the aviation sector, when India ordered a large number of aircraft. And now we are ready to open 120 new airports. So imagine all the prospects for the future," Modi said.

"We don't want to live in a world of confrontation between the U.S. and China, but we don't want to be dependent on any of them. So this is a strong belief in a world of respect and sovereignty, of engagement and independence. And the Franco-Indian axis and, through our two countries, the axis between the Indo-Pacific and European Union, I think makes a lot of sense because it creates an area of cooperation between big powers. And this is why we can cooperate on defence, we can cooperate on energy and technology, on very sensitive issues, because we do it with a perspective not to create new dependencies, but clearly, on this basis, to elaborate new cooperation, to reduce our dependency vis-a-vis the two big guys in the room, and in order to be stronger," Emmanuel Macron said.

Indian PM Modi highlights country's reforms at India-France CEOs forum, invites businesses to invest in India