India's Modi heads to Paris as co-chair of AI summit
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting France from Monday as co-chair of an international summit on artificial intelligence in Paris that is expected to be attended by industry leaders, including executives from OpenAI and DeepSeek.
Hosted by France over Monday and Tuesday in cooperation with India, the AI summit is yet another sign that President Emmanuel Macron's government -and the European Union- is seeking closer ties with New Delhi in areas like technology amid a fraught relationship with Beijing and a disrupted one with Washington. Modi and Macron have cultivated close ties over the years.
Modi was invited to Bastille Day in 2023, and Macron in turn attended India's Republic Day last year. Both leaders share "values of independence and strategic autonomy," said Sylvia Malinbaum, research fellow and head of India and South Asia research at the French Institute of International Relations' Center for Asian Studies. India's non-alignment policy echoes France's "third way" approach vis-a-vis China and the U.S.
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"India may feel a little more understood by France than by other Western countries," she explained, pointing to France's relaxed attitude to India's development of nuclear capabilities.
Research Fellow, Head of India and South Asia Research, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
After the AI summit, Macron and Modi will head to Marseille, the Mediterranean port the government hopes will attract Indian companies for its strategic location as a potential European gateway for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that is Modi's brainchild. Unveiled by Modi at the G20 meeting in September 2023, the trade route is touted as a response -albeit belatedly- to China's Belt and Road Initiative.
Elsewhere around Europe, India is increasingly seen as an important partner to counter China's influence, and to provide opportunities to diversify economic ties at a time of unruly geopolitics. Beyond AI, India has been teaming up with European giants in various sectors, notably defense, transport, and aeronautics. The EU and India have "common interests in breaking out of the U.S.-China confrontation," Malinbaum said.
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Sylvia MALINBAUM
Research Fellow, Head of India and South Asia Research, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
