PM Modi France visit highlights:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed his bilateral visit to France and
departed for Washington on Wednesday to meet US President Donald Trump. He
thanked France for a “productive visit” that touched upon multiple domains of
bilateral cooperation including AI, commerce, energy and cultural linkages. In
his address at the AI Action Summit in Paris, PM Modi called for investment in
skilling and reskilling people for an artificial intelligence (AI)- driven
future.
He also asserted that governance is about ensuring access to everyone,
especially in the Global South.
France confirmed that India will be
hosting the next AI summit after PM Modi expressed interest. India also assured
France of full support for its initiatives on AI.
The prime minister also spoke
at the India-France CEOs Forum in Paris where he encouraged partnerships
between businesses in the two countries.
Modi attended a dinner hosted by
President Macron at the Élysée Palace in honour of visiting Heads of Government
and State. The dinner was also attended by tech CEOs and several other distinguished
invitees to the summit.
The AI Action Summit assumes
significance in the wake of tech disruption by China's DeepSeek. IT minister
Ashwini Vaishnaw said that India plans to develop a domestic AI model.
Modi also addressed the India-France
CEOs Forum where he encouraged businesses to enter the Indian market and
highlighted the country's progress on several fronts.
Modi visited the Mazargues War
Cemetery, maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Marseille, to
pay tribute to the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers in World War I.
Modi and Macron visited Cadarache,
the site of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), a
high-science nuclear fusion project.