Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron jointly visited the VivaTech 2026 exhibition in Paris on Thursday, engaging with startup entrepreneurs, innovators and technology leaders at what is widely regarded as Europe’s premier annual gathering for technology and innovation.
The visit reflects the deepening strategic and technological partnership between India and France, which has grown considerably in breadth and depth over the past several years. By appearing together at VivaTech, one of the continent’s most high-profile platforms for showcasing emerging technologies and startup ecosystems, both leaders signalled their shared commitment to technology-driven economic growth and to building stronger innovation linkages between the two nations.
VivaTech 2026 drew exhibitors and participants from across the global technology landscape, covering areas ranging from artificial intelligence and green energy to fintech, health technology and smart mobility. For Prime Minister Modi, who has consistently championed India’s technology sector and the startup ecosystem built around initiatives like Startup India and Digital India, the VivaTech visit provided a platform to project India’s emergence as a global technology power to a European audience.
The joint tour of the exhibition is consistent with the broader agenda of PM Modi’s engagement in France, which included high-level discussions at the G7 Summit at Versailles, where India participated as an invited partner country. The proximity of the two leaders at a technology showcase underscores that the India-France relationship is not confined to strategic and defence domains but extends to the innovation economy as well.
France and India have been steadily building their bilateral technology and innovation partnership, including in areas such as nuclear energy, space cooperation, defence technology and digital infrastructure. VivaTech, with its focus on startups and emerging technologies, added a newer and younger dimension to that relationship, highlighting the entrepreneurial energy on both sides.
The visit by two of the world’s major democratic leaders to a technology innovation platform sends a clear message about the centrality of the startup economy to national development agendas.
