Lok Sabha Election 2024, Phase 1: Voting on 102 seats underway
In the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024, as many as 102 constituencies spanning across 21 states and Union Territories will elect their new MPs.
Within hours of Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulating new French President Emmanuel Macron over his convincing victory, Indian officials said the two leaders were expected to meet in early July on the margins of the G-20 Summit in Hamburg.
The two sides were in touch to arrange an early meeting between the leaders, given the strong relationship between the two countries, sources said.
"Congratulations to @EmmanuelMacron for an emphatic victory in the French Presidential election. I look forward to working closely with President-elect @EmmanuelMacron to further strengthen India-France ties," Modi tweeted.
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India will look to further consolidate ties with France in strategic areas like defence, space and civil nuclear energy under Macron’s leadership. There is hope in New Delhi that the civil nuclear deal will start moving in the right earnest following the election of the new President.
France has been one of India's closest partners over the decades in Europe. Given Macron’s pro-immigration stand and the liberal markets that he has spoken about, New Delhi will be quite comfortable in dealing with him, sources said.
Macron's victory also means that France will remain in the European Union, a grouping with which India has a robust economic and trade relationship. His election has dispelled fears that India’s trade with EU could also suffer a setback, should France also leave the grouping. His rival in the Presidential poll Marine Le Pen had promised to call a referendum in the country to decide if France should remain in EU.
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