PM Modi (File Photo)

NEW DELHI: India and France will set up a joint “constellation” of satellites for maritime surveillance in the Indian Ocean region. The second phase of this ambitious project will kick off when Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets French president Emmanuel Macron on Thursday evening in Paris.

The maritime surveillance satellites will give both countries eyes on maritime movement in this region, cementing a rapidly deepening strategic partnership.

Modi will be on a two-day official visit to France on August 22-23, before zipping off to the UAE and Bahrain for the 24th, returning to Biarritz in France to participate in the climate change and digital summits as part of the G7 summit. In Abu Dhabi, Modi will receive the Order of Zayed, the highest civilian honour by the UAE government. This award was given to Modi in April, during the election season. From there, he will pay a fleeting visit to Bahrain, before returning to France.

The Jaitapur nuclear power plant too is likely to see accelerated action, with sources saying that the French side would be ready with the final “techno-commercial offer” to India before the end of the year. This project will see six EPR nuclear plants developed by Framatome of France, each of 1650 MW, totalling 9900 MW, possibly the largest in the world.

While the India-France relationship covers traditional strategic areas of defence, maritime security, space, counter-terrorism,etc, the two sides will be adding new dimensions – in cybersecurity and digital cooperation.

A joint communique to be issued at the end of the bilateral visit will detail a roadmap for digital cooperation, largely in the area of digital governance. India and France will also join forces on super computing, artificial intelligence and a mechanism to bring together startups from both countries.

Modi will arrive in France on Thursday evening and straightaway head for talks with Macron at Chantilly, who will also host a working dinner for the visiting leader.

The next day, he will meet French Prime Minister Edouard Charles Philippe, address an event of Indian community at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and inaugurate a memorial for Indian victims of two tragic air crashes of Air India flights in 1950 and 1966.

Briefing journalists today, TS Tirumurti, secretary (ER) in MEA, said, the discussions are expected to broadly focus on reaffirming France and India as the key strategic and like-minded partners, strengthening of defence partnership, including future defence acquisitions, progress on setting up of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, convergent, strategic and political priorities in the Indo-Pacific and related operational needs.

Strengthening bilateral engagement in key areas of strategic cooperation such as defence, nuclear energy, space, counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber security, International Solar Alliance, and joint development projects will also be deliberated upon, Tirumurti added.

