"Taking Strategic Partnership to new levels! PM @narendramodi met President @EmmanuelMacron of France on the sidelines of the 50th G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy," Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X.

"The two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen the partnership including in areas of defence, nuclear, space, education, climate action, digital public infrastructure, critical technologies, connectivity and culture. They also exchanged views on key global and regional issues," he wrote.

Modi meets UK PM Rishi Sunak

Besidess Macron, PM Modi also held a meting with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak, and is believed to have discussed bilateral relations and issues of common interests.

Sunak and Modi last met in person at the G20 Summit in New Delhi last September, when they had agreed to accelerate the FTA talks with the hope of signing off before India's general election.

However, the trade talks are now expected to resume only after a new UK government is elected on July 4.

The India-UK FTA negotiations, which opened in January 2022, are aimed at significantly enhancing bilateral trade – currently worth around 38.1 billion pounds a year as per official statistics from earlier this year.