India-France Partnership: Prime Minister Narendra Modi met French President Emmanuel Macron in Nice, France, before the G7 Summit. The talks were held on June 14, 2026, and the Indian side said this was the first meeting after the two countries lifted their ties to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership” earlier this year. The main focus was on making the India-France relationship deeper in defence, technology, trade, space, energy, and global security.
The two sides also used the visit to push their bigger innovation plan. India and France adopted the India-France Innovation Roadmap 2030, which is meant to guide work in critical technologies, emerging technologies, trusted tech systems, research links, and student exchange. The official roadmap says the partnership is also linked to the India-France Year of Innovation 2026 and the larger Horizon 2047 vision.
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Big push in Tech, AI and Digital payments
A further step to strengthen India-France partnership!
PM @narendramodi held bilateral talks with President @EmmanuelMacron where they reviewed the progress in India-France Special Global Strategic Partnership. The leaders discussed areas including innovation, trade &… pic.twitter.com/7DCEKhQ8ol
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) June 14, 2026
A major part of the talks was artificial intelligence. India and France agreed to create a Joint India-France AI Working Group. The roadmap also puts “trusted AI” at the center of the partnership and talks about safe, secure, and human-centric AI. The two countries want to work more on AI governance, child safety online, and research-based digital tools.
Digital payments were also part of the discussion. Officials said UPI’s use in France is expanding, and that was treated as an important step for tourists, payment ease, and stronger digital links between the two countries. The broader reporting on the meeting also said the leaders discussed trade, technology, security, and other economic ties at the same time.
Defence, Trade, Space and Other
Defence stayed one of the strongest parts of the relationship. Reports on the meeting said the two countries want deeper cooperation in defence manufacturing, joint production, and military technology. Civil nuclear cooperation was also kept on the table, with both sides backing cleaner energy and long-term energy security.
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Trade was another big point. The leaders agreed on a plan to double bilateral trade in five years. Along with that, they spoke about an economic security dialogue, supply-chain strength, startup cooperation, education exchange, climate action, and stronger work in the Indo-Pacific.
Space cooperation was also highlighted in the official roadmap. India and France said they would keep building on their space partnership, including closer work between their public and private space ecosystems. The roadmap also points to events in Bengaluru and Paris that are meant to help set a bigger common plan for future space work.
