French President meets Indian counterpart Ram Nath Kovind

New Delhi [India] - French President Emmanuel Macron met with his Indian counterpart President Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, here on Saturday. 

Earlier in the day, French president Macron, in a joint statement with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressed upon deepening the trade alliance between France and India. 

Beginning on a lighter note, President Macron made remarks on the origin of the French Curry in India and credit India for providing ideas to various French writers who visited the sub-continent in search of ideas and further spread those in the entire world. 

He said, "During 18th and 19th century many French writers had travelled to India and found a lot of inspiration and tried to translate a lot of works from Sanskrit to French. Not just French Indian had inspired writers of all places". 

He further asked both the countries to work together on the issues of terrorism including financing of terror activities and radicalisation on the internet. 

He seeks cooperation by India over the military activities of both the countries while saying, "France wishes to get India 's cooperation in the functioning of their military agencies and ensure a collective effort in monitoring the activities in space". 

He further inclined towards building submarines in India under the Make in India initiative. 

Macron insisted upon making India as the first strategic partner of France and further expressed his keenness to ensure a strong strategic alliance with the rest of Europe. 

He said, "After 20 years of strategic partnership between the two countries, now we should focus on our activities in the India Ocean as part of our strategic activities are based on the Indian Ocean and also in the Pacific." 

President Macron hinted about bringing change in France's education policy to facilitate the education of the India students. 

Macron said, "We would discuss bringing certain changes in the education policy of the country to ensure that the degrees obtained by the Indian students in France are recognized in India and outside". 

He further expressed his willingness to invest in the Indian economy in sectors, including generation of electrical energy, aqua-food business and technology. 

Focusing on the trade partnership of France and India, Macron emphasised on maintain a Balance of International trade to avoid any trade-wars. 

He said, "Trade war between the countries is impacting the economies of India and France". 

"Both the economies are driven by various trade policies", he added. 

He further invited the Prime Minister of India to become the guest of honour at the coronation ceremony of 140 Indian soldiers who risked their lives for the freedom of France. 

He said, "Many of these soldiers have been buried at Cemetry of Chaplet". 

The France and India are set to 50 agreements in the upcoming session on climate on Sunday. French is set to sign an Electrical energy agreement also various agreements on climate change and sanction of projects to "invest in the future of India". 

President Macron arrived in India on Thursday for a four-day visit. 

The last visit of President Macron to India was in January 2016, when he was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations. Prime Minister Modi had last visited France in June last year.