AI focus, PM ties as trips begin to France, US
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-nation visit to France and the US will be focused on AI cooperation and deepening the India-US relationship with key discussions in France and a meeting with Trump in the US.
A joint approach to the inclusive use of AI and deepening the India-US relationship will be on the agenda during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-nation visit to France and the US that began on Monday.
Modi arrived in France, where he will co-chair the AI Action Summit with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday. The two leaders will have bilateral discussions before Modi’s visit to Washington on February 12 for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump in his second term.
In a statement before leaving, Modi said that he was eager to co-chair the AI Action Summit where “we will exchange views on collaborative approach to AI technology for innovation and larger public good in an inclusive, secure and trustworthy manner”.
The summit in Paris, the third of its series, will be addressed by global leaders like US vice president JD Vance and Chinese vice premier Zhang Guoqing and global tech CEOs like OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Google’s Sundar Pichai. Besides the launch of an AI Foundation, the summit is likely to be focused on cooperation to ensure the safe and trustworthy use of AI.
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After the AI Summit, Modi and Macron would travel to the port city of Marseille, where they would have bilateral discussions and inaugurate a new Indian consulate on February 12.
“This visit will provide an opportunity to take stock of progress on the 2047 Horizon Roadmap for India-France strategic partnership with Macron, he said.
We will also visit the historic French city of Marseille to inaugurate the first Indian consulate in France and also visit the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor project, where India is a member of the consortium of member nations led by France, to harness energy for global good,” Modi said.
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People in the know on the preparations for the visit said that the two nations will sign a bilateral AI road map, a partnership for cooperation on small modular reactors and other measures for deepening civil nuclear cooperation.
Modi will pay respects to the graves of Indian soldiers who died during World Wars 1 and 2 at the Mazargues War Cemetery.
Modi will proceed from France to the US on an invitation issued by Trump.
“I look forward to meeting my friend, President Trump. While this will be our first meeting after his historic electoral victory and inauguration in January, I have a very warm memory of cooperation in his first term in constructing a Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership between India and the US,” Modi said.
This will be a chance to build on the success of our cooperation in his first term and to set an agenda to further raise and deepen our partnership, including in the fields of technology, trade, defence, energy, and supply chain resilience”, Modi said.
“We will cooperate together for the benefit of the people of our two nations and provide the world with a better future,” he said.
Modi’s US visit will come a week after an American plane deported 104 illegal immigrants to Amritsar. Images of handcuffed and shackled deportees had caused a national outcry and the Indian side would definitely bring it up in Washington.
India had already complained to America regarding the treatment of its deportees-the shackling of women among them. America is deporting the remaining approx 600 illegal immigrants from India, 96 of them whose nationality has been confirmed by the Indian side.
Trade, investment, and energy purchasing are some of the issues when Modi talks to Trump, who, in a telephonic conversation with the two leaders recently, had requested India to purchase more defence equipment manufactured by the US and move closer to a “fair bilateral trading relationship”.
During Trump’s first term, Modi had come to America in 2017 and 2019 and was one of the first world leaders to call up Trump and welcome him to his presidency last year. After his swearing-in, Modi had called him up again to welcome him and the two leaders had decided to meet soon over this call. India was also represented at Trump’s swearing-in by external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
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