French President Francois Hollande will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations next year. The Government is yet to make a formal announcement in this regard but it is learnt that the French leader has accepted the invite sent by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in October.
The acceptance was conveyed by French Foreign Minister laurent Fabius during his visit to New Delhi on Friday. With India strongly pitching for a permanent seat in the reformed United Nations Security Council, this will be the second visit of a P-5 country leader during the Republic Day celebrations during PM Modi’s tenure. This year’s Republic Day Parade had US President Barack Obama, accompanied by First lady Michelle Obama, as the chief guest.
The Indo-French relationship has been on a high with the two countries increasing the pace of high-level interactions with each other. Hollande’s predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy was chief guest at the Republic Day parade in 2008. President Hollande had last visited India in February 2013.
Modi had visited France in April this year and the biggest takeaway of the tour was the long-pending Rafale deal that ended the wrangling and suspense that had clouded the deal for sale of 126 fighter jets. Modi had asked France to supply 36 Rafale fighter jets in fly-way condition for the Indian Air Force.
India and France have also joined hands in counter terror mechanisms, including sharing of data and Intelligence. This co-operation is only going to enhance further in view of the terror attacks in Paris last week that left at least 130 people dead and several injured. Paris has declared a State of Emergency for three months after the terror strikes and Hollande had cancelled his trip to Turkey for the G20 summit.