french president Emmanuel Macron First Lady Brigitte Macron arrived in Mumbai on Tuesday on a three-day visit to India till February 19.Macron plans to meet Prime Minister Modi On Tuesday afternoon, there will be bilateral talks and participation in the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit.Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Governor Acharya Devvrat and Deputy Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar welcomed the French leader and his delegation at the airport.Fadnavis posted onBefore setting off, Macron wrote on theThis is Macron’s fourth visit to India and his first visit to Mumbai, reflecting the continued development momentum of the India-France strategic partnership.Prime Minister Modi and Macron will hold bilateral talks at Lok Bhavan on Tuesday afternoon to review cooperation in defence, space, nuclear energy, climate, education and emerging technologies under the Horizon 2047 roadmap. Nearly a dozen agreements are expected to be reached in defence, trade, skills, health and supply chains.The two leaders will jointly launch the “Indo-France Year of Innovation 2026”, an initiative announced by Macron during his earlier meetings with Prime Minister Modi, including the meeting in Paris in 2025 and his previous visit to the G20 Summit in 2023 and Republic Day celebrations in 2024. Later in the evening, they will attend the Indo-France Year of Innovation and Cultural Commemorations at the Gateway of India and interact with business leaders, start-ups, researchers and innovators from both countries.The leaders will also exchange views on regional and global issues such as the Indo-Pacific, the Russia-Ukraine war and Gaza, as well as air and maritime cooperation in line with the agreed defense industry roadmap to 2024.The visit comes as the two sides plan to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. After the event in Mumbai, Macron will travel to New Delhi to attend the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at the Bharat Mandapam from February 16 to 20, the first global AI summit to be held in the southern hemisphere. The summit, which is centered around the three pillars of people, planet and progress, follows the AI Action Summit co-hosted by Prime Minister Modi and Macron in Paris in February 2025.India and France will also advance defense cooperation during the visit, including discussions on India’s plan to procure 114 Rafale fighter jets from France under an intergovernmental framework, as well as the sixth annual defense dialogue in Bengaluru, where the defense cooperation agreement is expected to be extended for another 10 years.The two leaders are expected to review the progress of the Indo-French Artificial Intelligence Roadmap launched during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France.
