Expanding space sector collaboration, including its defence aspects, and growing digital sector partnership will be among the key agenda for the Summit between PM Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron in Jaipur on Thursday.
India and France have created a Strategic Space Dialogue mechanism that provides guidance and direction across civilian and defence aspects of space cooperation. This will be scheduled soon after Macron’s visit, according to persons familiar with the subject.
A Joint Vision for Space Cooperation was adopted during Macron’s visit here in 2018. ISRO and its French counterpart CNES have a rich legacy of collaboration for over six decades. France remains a major supplier of components and equipment for the Indian space programme.
ISRO and CNES concluded a joint declaration for cooperation in future launch vehicle technologies and agreement for cooperation in joint Earth Observation mission TRISHNA, Maritime Domain Awareness (short-term plan) and Space Situational Awareness. While ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) has launched French satellites on a commercial basis, Arianespace, France, has been the major provider of launch services to Indian geo-stationary satellites, according to one of the persons quoted above.
Digital sector is a new and emerging area of cooperation and it will get a big boost with Macron’s visit, ET has learnt. President of Greater Paris Region Mme Valerie Pecresse visited India this month and is looking to collaborate with India further on the digital side. India and France collaborate in the cybersecurity domain as well and have a continuing engagement through MEA and the National Security Council Secretariat.
The Embassy of India in Paris, along with the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, organised a workshop called ‘INFRAStructures’ last May in Paris to showcase India’s achievements in Public Digital Infrastructures and discuss building secure and innovative digital commons.
An ‘India pavilion’ was set up at ‘VivaTech 2023’, which is Europe’s largest start-up and technology annual event, last June. Around 70 Indian start-ups from the fields of fintech, aerospace, healthcare, robotics and renewable energy, participated in the event. India was the ‘Country of the Year’ at VivaTech in 2022 and the PM had delivered a keynote address at VivaTech Digital Fair in 2021.
DAC and M/S Atos, a European multinational IT service and consulting company based in France, has developed 14 supercomputers for India to date, including the fastest supercomputer Param Siddhi.
