3.3. Recent Visits

♤ Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited France on 2-3 June 2017. The Paris Climate Accord and the climate issue was prominently discussed.

♤ Earlier Prime Minister Modi had paid an official visit to France in April 2015 in what was his first visit to a European country.

♤ Prime Minister Modi visited Paris on 29-30 November 2015 to attend the inaugural Leaders’ Event at the COP-21 Climate Change Summit. He launched the International Solar Alliance jointly with President Francois Hollande in the presence of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. Along with President Hollande, US President Obama and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

♤ President Hollande, during his Presidency twice visited India. During his visit in February 2013 and in January 2016 as the chief guest of the Republic Day celebration. In a historic first, a French military contingent also marched on Rajpath on the Republic Day and thus France became the first ever foreign country to have been invited to participate in the march

♤ President Emanuel Macron of France visited India in March 2018.