**French President Emmanuel Macron** during his official visit to India (February 17–19, 2026) emphasized that **India** and **France** have “the same objective” on **AI** innovation: to create a sovereign, balanced model without being completely dependent on the US or Chinese systems. Speaking at **All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS)** in New Delhi on February 18, he stressed on strategic autonomy in AI.
“I believe that in India and France, and in Europe, we have the same objective—that we do not want to be completely dependent on the US and the Chinese model. We believe that we need our own balanced model, and we want to be part of the solution,” Macron said, as reported by ANI, The Tribune, Economic Times and Open Magazine. He emphasized on building trustworthy AI systems to serve humanity responsibly.
Macron praised the **India AI Impact Summit 2026** (16-20 February at the Bharat Mandapam, based on the ‘People, Planet, Progress’ pillars), saying it is “very important” for responsible innovation discussions, building on the earlier Action Summit. He said India and France/Europe are “in the race” despite lagging behind the US/China, and called for investment in three pillars: computing capacity (including low-carbon data centres), talent and capital.
He stressed the importance of adopting AI with an ethical framework to unlock impact such as disease detection, energy transformation and increased productivity, and avoid the “paradox” of innovation without real results.
Macron and Union Health Minister **Jagat Prakash Nadda** inaugurated the **Indo-French Center for AI in Global Health** (also known as the Indo-French Campus on AI in Global Health) at AIIMS. AIIMS, Sorbonne University and Paris Brain Institute are jointly leading it. It focuses on research, training, innovation and capacity-building in AI-driven healthcare solutions.
Macron also talked about student mobility, setting a target of 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030 (up from ~10,000 annually), promising easier visas (e.g., multi-year for PhDs) and better sourcing from Indian institutions.
The visit builds on India-France’s strong ties (including the ‘India-France Year of Innovation 2026’) and Macron’s participation in the summit, the first global AI event in the Global South, which is being attended by more than 20 heads of state, 60 ministers and 500 leaders.
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