French President Emmanuel Macron to Visit India for AI Impact Summit in February

New Delhi: French President Emmanuel Macron has confirmed that he will visit India in February to attend the AI Impact Summit.

The French leader made the announcement while addressing the Diplomatic Corps, during which he highlighted the achievements of French diplomacy in 2025, including progress made at the Artificial Intelligence summit.

“Let’s finally look at what we have managed to achieve together, the successes of French diplomacy last year — the Artificial Intelligence summit. The whole world came to Paris. We made progress on this, and we co-chaired it with Prime Minister Modi, and next month, I’ll be in India to follow up,” Macron said.

Earlier, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also indicated that India was expecting President Macron’s visit during his meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Jaishankar noted that India and France remain active on the international stage, share a commitment to multipolarity, and that their cooperation is vital not only for bilateral ties but also for global stability.

During a previous meeting in Paris, Jaishankar called on President Macron, reaffirming the strength of the India–France strategic partnership and exchanging views on current global developments amid major geopolitical and economic transitions.

“Delighted to call on President @EmmanuelMacron of France today and convey warm wishes of PM @narendramodi. Deeply appreciate his perspectives on contemporary global developments and positive sentiments for our Strategic Partnership,” Jaishankar wrote on social media platform X.

India and France share a long-standing strategic partnership encompassing defence, space, civil nuclear cooperation, clean energy, and collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region.

The India-AI Impact Summit 2026 was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the France AI Action Summit and is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on February 19–20. It will be the first global AI summit hosted in the Global South.

Ahead of the summit, Prime Minister Modi chaired a roundtable discussion with Indian AI startups at his residence, 7 Lok Kalyan Marg, on Thursday. He urged startups to ensure that their AI models are ethical, unbiased, transparent, and grounded in strong data privacy principles.

The Prime Minister also encouraged them to aim for global leadership from India, highlighting the country’s potential to promote affordable, inclusive, and frugal AI innovation worldwide. He emphasised the transformative role of artificial intelligence in shaping society.

With inputs from IANS