The roadmap will identify opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector
India and France have agreed to adopt the Defence Industrial Roadmap and explore opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector and prioritise co-designing. 
 
The decision was made during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emannuel Macron during his two-day visit to India on January 25-26, 2024. The two leaders held talks in Jaipur on January 25; President Macron was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi on January 26.
 
"The two countries have agreed to adopt a defence production roadmap. Now, the name itself is very clear that the focus and the priority of defence cooperation through this roadmap is to actually identify opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector that prioritize co-designing, co-development, coproduction with the whole, and also building the defence supply chains between the two countries," Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said while briefing the media on Friday (January 26, 2024).
 
According to Foreign Secretary Kwatra, in terms of the range of domains, including the technology space that the industrial roadmap will aim to achieve, it would include both air and space technologies, maritime technology, including the underwater domain awareness.
 
“It's a new space which is coming up naturally, the equipment and the systems related to land warfare, and also robotics and artificial intelligence as also autonomous vehicles and platforms, and cyber defence," he added.
 
The following documents were also finalised during the talks:

1. An agreement on Space Partnership.
2. MoU between New Space India Limited (NSIL) and Arianespace to launch satellites.
3. An industrial partnership between Tata and Airbus Helicopters for the production of H125 helicopters, with a significant indigenous and localisation         component.
4. Two agreements between the Department of Science and Technology and the counterpart French institutions for joint research in clean energy, applied        mathematics, digital technology, and precision agriculture.
5. An agreement between the two ministries of health on healthcare cooperation, education, training and research.
6. Agreement on cooperation in the fields of public administration and reforms as well as sustainable urban development.
7. It has been agreed that 2026 will be celebrated as the India-France Year of Innovation.

Other announcements include the introduction of the Young Professional Scheme, facilitating the exchange of individuals between 18-35 years of age, and the extension of visa validity to five years for Schengen visas for Indian students pursuing master's degrees in France.
 
In July 2023, India and France had adopted the Horizon 2047 Roadmap and Indo-Pacific Roadmap, laying out a clear long-term vision of partnership.

Foreign Secretary Kwatra said, “The salience of the India-France partnership has only grown in today’s complex geopolitical environment and in pursuit of our national priorities and interests”.
 
According to Foreign Secretary Kwatra, the two leaders have had extensive exchanges over the last year, having met six times in 2023 and four times in the last six months. “This is a clear reflection of the importance attached by both the leaders to this partnership and also the intensity of the high-level supervision to the relationship,” he noted.
 
Recalling Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France in July last year for the Bastille Day Parade, Foreign Secretary Kwatra said, “It is not very often that the leaders of two countries are the guests of honour in each other’s successive national day celebration. This is the sixth time that a French leader has come for India’s Republic Day, the maximum for any country”.
 
The French President was accompanied by a 40-member delegation, including the ministers of Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Culture.