Paris/New Delhi, July 5 (IANS). India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addressed the Indian community in France and lauded their role as a strong force that enhances India’s soft power, global standing and bilateral relations.
He delivered the keynote address addressing the Indian community at a gathering in Marseille, France. According to the Finance Ministry, Sitharaman later also interacted with members of the Indian community.
He also interacted with Indian professionals from Larsen & Toubro (L&T) contributing to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project in Cadarache, France.
ITER is a large-scale international collaboration aimed at building the world’s largest experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor.
The Finance Ministry informed on social media platform X that seven main member countries including India are involved in this project and more cooperation agreements have been signed with many other countries.
Finance Minister Sitharaman also witnessed a presentation by Alain Bacoulet and Kattalai Ramachandran Sriram and India’s contribution to ITER.
Later, during the guided visit, the Finance Minister was given a tour of the ITER facilities, including the Cleaning Hall and Assembly Hall Walk and a view of the Tokamak Pit.
The Finance Minister appreciated the dedication of the engineers and scientists engaged in the ITER experiment, which is one of the largest nuclear fusion energy projects in the world and a major step towards a stable and unlimited clean energy future.
He also appreciated the work of Indian scientists, engineers and collaborators, as well as well-known industrial giants like L&T, Inox India, TCS, TCE, HCL Technologies, who have been contributing to this project for the last two decades.
Earlier, India and France discussed potential areas for greater bilateral cooperation in essential minerals, economic sovereignty and security policy and further enhanced financial industry connections between the two countries.
Finance Minister Sitharaman and French Minister of Economy, Finance, Industry, Energy and Digital Sovereignty Roland Lescure co-chaired the India-France Economic and Financial Dialogue (EFD) in Aix-en-Provence.
–IANS
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