During the 50s, Swiss-French architect le Corbusier developed Chandigarh as India’s first Smart City. In a bid to rejuvenate this French connection in India, French President Francois Hollande will touch base in Chandigarh (the City Beautiful) first during his three-day tour to India. Hollande is the chief guest for Republic Day parade this year.
France is keen to develop Chandigarh along with Nagpur and Puducherry under the Union Government’s Smart City project. During Hollande’s visit, France is likely to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chandigarh Administration for improving its infrastructure. The French Government has set aside an assistance of two billion Euros through its development agency, AFD. The money will be used to provide technological support in the areas of water, sanitation, transport and waste management.
Though his stay in Chandigarh will be short, the French President is keen to make most of it, sources in the French Government said. Accompanied by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hollande will visit prominent tourist places like Rock Garden, Capitol Complex and the archaeological excavation site at Arts Museum.
To make the visit more meaningful, the French President and Prime Minister Modi will meet business heads from 43 French and several Indian companies in the city, and witness signing of some interesting agreements between them.
Hollande will leave Chandigarh on Sunday evening to be in New Delhi for talks with Modi on Monday. Following the terror attacks on Pathankot airbase and Paris, terrorism and growing threat from the ISIS will remain high on the agenda for talks between the two leaders.
“Highlight will be terrorism in view of the situation we are in at present, state of emergency, military operations in Syria, Iraq and in Africa and situation in India,” said French Ambassador to India Francois Richier. He added both France and India want to defend common interests and values.
“This is an occasion not only to remind everybody but to pull certain number of steps in this direction of combating terrorism and this will be high on the agenda. In this regard the two sides will be sharing assessment of threats and exchanging exact information on the subject,” said Richier.
Incidentally, the French Counsel General office in Bengaluru received a threat letter on Thursday. Richier lauded the efforts by the security forces in Delhi for working with French officials closely to prevent any attack on the visiting delegation.
Meanwhile, negotiators are still working on the much-publicised Rafale fighter jet deal, which the French Ambassador said is “very complex”. However, several pacts on space, education and clean energy will be signed during Holland’s visit.
There will also be some forward movement on decision taken by the two Governments last year on the issue of climate change and clean-renewable energy, particularly solar energy and wind energy. The French side is likely to announce some investment in this area. Space, education and marine biotechnology are some other areas that will be under focus.