Francois Hollande to be Chief Guest at 2016 Republic Day celebrations

Francois Hollande to be Chief Guest at 2016 Republic Day celebrations:

France President Francois Hollande. File photo. | Reuters

French President Francois Hollande will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade of January 26, 2016. Though official sources are yet to confirm this information, Julien Bouissou, the South Asia correspondent of French daily La Monde has tweeted the same. He later on clarified that his information was based on the French sources.

The visit of Mr. Hollande to New Delhi for the mega pageant of January 26 will be symbolic and send a message of a worldwide solidarity among the democratic countries against terrorism of the IS which staged theNovember 13 attacks in Paris.

France is going to host the COP 21, Paris Climate Conference, summit in Paris starting from November 30. French ambassador Francoise Richier told the media in Delhi earlier this week that the climate conference, though overshadowed by the terror attacks will go ahead as planned but for some changes about the peripheral events planned for the summit. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the COP21 brainstorming in Paris, said official sources earlier this week.

The announcement on the presence of Mr. Hollande during the Republic Day parade might have been finalised during the talks that French foreign minister Laurent Fabius had in Delhi on November 20. Though, Mr Fabius, one of the longest serving French diplomats, was in Delhi to discuss the climate conference, his discussions with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj and Prime Minister Modi in Delhi expectedly were overshadowed by the war on terror that France has declared following the terror strikes in Paris.