New Delhi: India and France agreed to come up with a roadmap for defence industrial cooperation during French President Emmanuel Macron's two-day visit to India.

According to foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra, the roadmap would constitute identifying opportunities in co-design, co-development, and co-production in the defence industrial sector, and cover domains, relating to technology, maritime tech, underwater domain awareness, land warfare, robotics, artificial intelligence and cyber defence.

"Production itself is the focus and priority of defence cooperation … .This roadmap is to actually identify opportunities for partnership in the defence industrial sector that prioritises co-designing, co-development and co-production. The whole idea and also building the defence supply chains between two countries so that they can not only fulfil the defence needs in India but also can be a useful contributor for the security partnership with other countries…," said Kwatra, briefing on the takeaways from Macron's visit to India.

Kwatra added that both sides have agreed to a roadmap in the field of space as well as an agreement between Tata and Airbus was inked on making H125 single-engine helicopters. India and France, he said, have agreed to cooperate in the field of healthcare, covering a gamut of areas such as education, training and research, and the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare.

Both sides decided to call 2026 the Year of India-France Innovation. India and France, he said, will roll out a ‘Young Professionals’ scheme for citizens of both countries in the age group of 18-35.

Agreements were also inked in the areas of science and technology, clean energy, applied mathematics and precision agriculture. India and France signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the former's New Space India Ltd and France’s Arianespace for cooperation in satellite launches.

The two leaders also discussed the ongoing war in Gaza and the emerging humanitarian situation. They also spoke about the evolving security situation in the Red Sea, including the potential disruptions and actual developments, said Kwatra.

On day one of his two-day visit, the French President visited Jaipur. On Friday, January 26, he was the chief guest of India's Republic Day celebrations at the Kartavya Path in Delhi.

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