Strengthening Indo-French Cooperation in IMEC Trade Connectivity and Artificial Intelligence

President Emmanuel Macron’s latest visit to India for the AI Action Summit in February 2026 serves as an example for middle power cooperation amid a changing international system. 

The geopolitical convergence between France and the European Union (EU)’s deepening engagement with New Delhi creates new openings for trade connectivity in the India-France relationship as well as in the India-Europe-Middle East-Economic Corridor (IMEC) and artificial intelligence (AI). 

However, to fully realize this potential, India and France must translate their political communiqués on trade and AI into tangible results. 

Shared Views of Strategic Autonomy

Since 1998, France has been one of India’s most important strategic partners. What binds the two countries together is a common view of strategic autonomy, which is the basis of a unique partnership between a post-colonial power and a former colonial power on equal standing.

In India, strategic autonomy first took the form of non‑alignment, pushed by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which allowed New Delhi to stay neutral during the Cold War. In the post‑Cold War era, non-alignment evolved into multi‑alignment, which focused on building close partnerships with many countries to avoid dependency on a select few. 

In France, strategic autonomy was conceptualized by President Charles de Gaulle, who insisted that France pursue an independent foreign policy. One of the policies Paris undertook to ensure its autonomy was their  development of  a sovereign nuclear weapons program. After the end of the Cold War, France continued to advocate for strategic autonomy. 

Both countries view a multipolar world more favorably than an American-dominated unipolar world, and their shared interest in strategic autonomy has facilitated Indo-French collaboration in areas such as defense, space, and maritime security in the Indo-Pacific. With this geopolitical perspective, Paris engages with New Delhi as an equal partner rather than as a subservient ally, providing avenues for cooperation that it cannot pursue given its current bilateral dynamic with Washington.  

India's growing relationship with the EU has heightened the importance of its bilateral relationship with France. Previously, one of the main differences between France and the EU was the centrality of India in its Indo-Pacific policy. As Garima Mohan acutely explains in her paper for The German Marshall Fund, in most European states’ Indo-Pacific policy, “India came second to China and ranked below other partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, such as that with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,” but France has long been a notable exception to this. 

However, with the EU’s growing concern over China and wariness of the transatlantic alliance, the EU has placed greater importance on developing its relationship with India as a means to diversify its foreign policy. Growing alignment between the EU and France’s policy toward India has opened up Indo-French cooperation in trade connectivity via the IMEC corridor and AI, which has traditionally not been the marker of the India-France relationship. 

Expanding Cooperation in IMEC and AI

France is eager to be India’s primary logistical gateway to Europe within the IMEC via Marseille. Announced during the G20 Summit in 2023, the IMEC is a planned rail and maritime trade corridor connecting India to Europe via Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel. According to a report by the Atlantic Council, the corridor can reduce shipping costs by at least 40%. 

The India–EU free trade agreement has given the IMEC project a major boost by creating a more predictable regulatory environment, reducing trade barriers, and attracting greater private investment. In February 2026, for example, India’s Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd. (APSEZ) and France’s Port of Marseille Fos announced a collaboration to facilitate coordination between key ports in the IMEC. 

This expanding relationship includes greater technological cooperation. As France’s ambassador to the United States, Laurent Bili, said during an event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C., stronger engagement between India and the EU can increase the linkages between Indian and French technological innovation. 

However, at a time when India and France are seeking to reduce their reliance on American and Chinese technology, the EU’s support is essential. As Thibault Fournal of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique notes, France can pool resources with the EU in terms of technological cooperation. The EU brings financing, regulatory alignment, and research frameworks that enable joint technological projects, which France and India could not undertake alone. One such example includes the Horizon Europe initiative, which provides funding to research and academic projects to bolster the bloc’s scientific industrial base. With Brussels’ backing, the French and Indian ambitions to build alternatives to American and Chinese technologies becomes far more achievable.

Institutionalizing AI and IMEC Cooperation

In order to take full advantage of the opportunities France and India have in AI cooperation, the two countries need to work toward negotiating a broader India-EU digital trade agreement, akin to what the EU already has with South Korea and Singapore. The India-EU free trade agreement already has a chapter on digital trade, with the stated aim of promoting innovation between the two partners. However, a formalized digital trade agreement will make French and other European technology companies more willing to invest in India's digital economy with guaranteed legal safeguards implemented.

Secondly, India and France should expand bilateral subnational diplomacy to ensure their economic and technological cooperation is durable. National‑level communiqués on trade and AI will only translate into tangible outcomes if they are followed by concrete cooperation efforts between states, provinces, cities, and legislatures.

Lastly, India and France should co-host an annual summit and intergovernmental dialogue, bringing in all the participants of IMEC. Such a platform would serve as the institutional anchor for a project whose success depends on coordination across multiple countries.

At a time when “the forces of disruption and geopolitical tension threaten to destabilize the very framework of international cooperation,” the India-France relationship is an example of how middle powers can shape the world order through rules-based engagement. Nevertheless, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s aspiration for a partnership with “no boundaries” with France will require concrete results that ensures the relationship endures beyond any single leader.

Edited by Emma Hopp

Managing Editor: Suravi Kumar