Without a doubt, the national holiday the day before, marking 75 years of complete liberation from the British colonial yoke with the adoption of a new constitution, was the most important event of the last seven days here.
The specified period began with great Hindu religious enthusiasm for the consecration ceremony of the god Ram in the new temple built in the city of Ayodhya.
Thousands of participants including cultural, political and other religious personalities dressed in white and orange robes took part in the religious activity led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On the other hand, French President Emmanuel Macron attended the 75th anniversary celebrations of Republic Day as a special guest during his two-day visit to India, which he used to further deepen relations between both nations.
Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared 2026 the India-France Year of Innovation and committed to drawing up a detailed roadmap, identifying priority areas and engaging relevant institutions.
According to the Foreign Ministry, the French President's visit to India ended the 25-year bilateral strategic partnership in a historic way in 2023 and laid the foundation for the next phase of the partnership until 2047 and beyond.
In this context, the visitor and the Prime Minister of India advocated for further deepening the integration of the defense industrial sectors of both nations to identify opportunities for joint design, development and production to strengthen their military capabilities and be a viable and reliable source of weapons for other countries .
Modi and Macron agreed on the importance of making the most of opportunities in the space sector in both countries and highlighted the signing of the MoU on defense cooperation.
Both dignitaries expressed their approval to sign a similar mechanism for cooperation in the field of health and medicine, aimed at strengthening cooperation in research and development, medical equipment based on information technology and digital health.
They also welcomed the progress of discussions on a possible Memorandum of Understanding in priority areas such as hospitality, tourism, energy, audiovisual sector and cooperation methods.
Both dignitaries welcomed the upcoming establishment by France of India's first Consulate General in Marseille and an office in Hyderabad with the aim of improving people-to-people relations and promoting consular services in two countries.
They also highlighted the signing of implementing agreements between the Ministry of Science and Technology and the French National Research Agency to facilitate joint research on priorities for the two countries in the fields of energy, applied mathematics, health and marine sciences.
They also agreed to promote youth exchanges and links between economic players in the sports industry to facilitate the training of Indian athletes in French institutions.
In this regard, Macron announced that France would share its experience of hosting the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris in the context of India's candidacy to host these events in 2036.
On the other hand, the French President reiterated his intention to create the conditions to attract up to 30,000 Indian students to French universities every year.
Both sides reiterated the need to deepen scientific and technical cooperation in areas such as coastal ecosystems, blue carbon ecosystems, fisheries, marine spatial planning and coastal resilience.
The two dignitaries called for activation of the Indo-Pacific Triangular Development Cooperation Fund to facilitate the expansion of green technologies developed in the region.
Together, but somewhat less publicly known, the President of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, Dennis Francis, undertook a five-day visit to India at the invitation of Foreign Minister Subrahmanyan Jaishankar.
As part of his activities, Dennis met with President Droupadi Murmu.
rgh/lrd