PM Modi lauds Air India-Airbus deal, says it adds weight to India-France special partnership

India and France steeled their special relationship with  Air India inking a contract to acquire 250 planes from Airbus.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday virtually participated in the head-turning event, as part of the launch of the Air India-Airbus partnership. Ratan Tata on behalf of the Tata group which owns Air India and civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia participated in the conference.

The deal — one of the biggest civilian aircraft deals in history–includes 40 A350 wide-body ultra-long-range aircraft. The rest will be narrow-body aircraft.

India and France already enjoy a strategic relationship marked by the purchases of Rafale fighter jets, development of Scorpeen submarines, harnessing nuclear energy, space cooperation and food security.

 

On a geo-strategic plain, India and France are partnering the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  in a trilateral initiative in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). New Delhi and Paris have also discussed joint forays in Africa, leveraging each other’s advantages in specific geographies of the resource rich continent.

“Whether it is the issue of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, or global food security and health security, India and France together are making a positive contribution,” PM Modi said at the event.

 

He stressed that not only was the aviation deal a reflection of the “ever-deepening ties” between India and France, it also show-cased New Delhi’s vision of revolutionising national air connectivity.

“This important deal not only demonstrates the ever-deepening relations between India and France. But, are also reflections of India’s successes and expectations in the civil aviation sector,” he added.

 

PM Modi stressed that the civil aviation sector is an integral part of India’s national infrastructure strategy, which was already showing concrete results. The Prime Minister said that from 74, the total number of airports had reached 147 in the last 8 years.

“Our regional air connectivity scheme called UDAN has helped provide air connectivity to remote areas of our country and this is further promoting economic as well as social development in the near future,” he observed.

Because of his government’s  ambition to massively scale up the country’s aviation sector, “India will become the third-largest market in the world in the aviation sector. According to several estimates India will need over 2,000 aircraft in the next 15 years.

PM Modi said that today’s deal substantiated the Atmanirbhar Bharat doctrine which was the make-in-India for the world, the key to India’s aspiration of massive industrialisation.

He said that the historic announcement today will help in catering to this increasing demand under the Make in India-Make for the World vision. Several new opportunities are opening up in aerospace manufacturing under India’s ‘Make in India – Make for the World’ vision.”