A roadmap has been created so that more students from India study in France, Jean Baptiste Lemoyne, France’s Secretary of State to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, has said.
Answering a question by The Sunday Guardian, Lemoyne talked about the steps that both India and France can take to make student exchange programmes more efficient. “The next steps I think could be that more French schools or universities could develop in India, while we can do vigorous marketing in France, so that more French students are interested in studying in India,” Lemoyne said.
The French Minister was attending an alumni meet at Alliance Française de Delhi with former students and interacted with current students as well here on Monday.
The French government is also working on getting a two-year work permit visa which will allow the Indian students to gain work experience after they complete their studies there. “When they return to India, there is a strong alumni network to connect them to French companies here,” said the minister. He added that a few years back, only 100 students went to France to pursue their education and the number now has increased significantly.
“Now, we have reached up to 8,000 students and I think this number will bridge the gap between the countries. We will continue to push our ambition which is 10,000 students by 2019,” he said.
Lemoyne said that “the future of the world is building in India,” and hence it is crucial to have human links between both the countries.
The minister’s visit is the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over office for a second term. Speaking about defence partnership between India and France, Lemoyne said, “We have a strong partnership with India and have been working on many projects such as submarines. We are also in partnership in terms of the Rafale aircraft programme.”
The first Rafale jet will be delivered to India in September this year and will be a “strong signal of cooperation between both the countries”, the French minister said. “The remaining 35 fighter jets will be delivered one after one,” he added.
Speaking on the Rafale deal, Baptiste Lemoyne emphasised that the French government “doesn’t care about controversies and we’ve a roadmap; we just want to deliver”.
“It’s in the interest of the two countries. Rafale is a tool for better sovereignty for India,” Lemoyne said.
The French minister also talked about the issue of terrorism, adding that the fight against terrorism is a
priority.
“Every single initiative to fight terrorism is welcome because it is a threat to every country in the world… So, everything that can be done to unite efforts is welcome. Terrorism is a global challenge like climate change. There needs to be a strong fight against financing terrorism. So, it’s an everyday fight,” he said.
Lemoyne, who was in India to do the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in August, also met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Union Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Puri, and a Confederation of Indian Industry delegation.
Prime Minister Modi has accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the session of the G7 Summit in Biarritz as a special invitee. The 45th summit of the G7 group of countries will take place from 24 August to 26 August in Biarritz, France.