French Foreign Minister Scheduled Meeting with Modi Cancelled due to COVID-19
The visit of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday was cancelled due to a “COVID-related response. Le Drian arrived in India on April 12th for a three-day visit and met with his Indian counterpart on Tuesday. His visit coincided with the Raisina Dialogue, which has now gone fully interactive as COVID-19 cases in India continue to grow dramatically. According to a press release issued by the French embassy ahead of his arrival, Le Drian has scheduled to meet with Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs media advisory also listed the call-up for 13th April. Since then, the timetable on the MEA website has removed. The demand for exchanging pleasantries has mostly not made due to the COVID response. However, no other specifics available. Recently, Modi’s guest meeting scaled. A planned meeting with the Maldivian Minister for International Affairs has also cancelled this week. A few hours before the planned call, the French official delegation sat down in Hyderabad House for formal negotiations with Minister for International Affairs, Foreign Secretary, and other senior MEA officials.
Prakash Javadekar and participate in the Raisina Dialogue:
Moreover, the second test resulted in a disappointing outcome for him. According to sources, it has highly doubtful that the PM’s office would have cancelled the scheduled foreign minister meeting. Due to an inconclusive outcome, particularly FS had vaccinated and subjected to regular checks. It is more likely that a general policy decision has made to reduce Modi’s meetings due to the increasing caseload.
On Wednesday, the visiting foreign minister will meet with environment minister Prakash Javadekar and participate in the Raisina Dialogue. On Thursday, he will fly to Bengaluru before departing for France. This year, none of the ten visiting foreign ministers have able to meet with India’s prime minister. This includes representatives from key partner countries such as Russia, Afghanistan, and Nepal. The explanation given was Modi’s hectic schedule, especially in the last few weeks of election campaigning. However, on different visits, US Secretary of Défense Lloyd James Austin and US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry were able to speak with Modi.
