Emmanuel Macron to discuss Kashmir with PM Modi ahead of G7 summit

French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss tensions in Kashmir with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of a G7 summit in France this week. The two leaders are set to sit down for a working dinner at the Chateau de Chantilly outside Paris on August 22. “Of course it (Kashmir) will be on the agenda. We have a strategic partnership with India, that means having confidence in each other. We are not going to be aggressive towards India, but we expect the Indian prime minister to explain how he sees things,” the French diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Modi has been invited to this weekend’s Group of Seven meeting of major economic powers in Biarritz and is seen by France as a crucial ally in the fight against climate change.

US President Donald Trump has also said he will hold discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi over tense situation in Kashmir at the G7 summit in France. “I will be with Prime Minister Modi. I’ll be with him over the weekend in France. I think, we are helping (resolve the tense) situation (between India and Pakistan), Trump told reporters in the Oval Office of the White House.

The development comes a day after Trump dialled PM Modi and Pak PM Imran Khan to ease out tensions between the South-Asian nations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on an official visit to France on August 22-23 where he will attend the G-7 Summit at its seaside resort of Biarritz on August 25-26. During his France visit, PM is likely address the Indian community in Paris.

On August 5, Modi’s government scrapped the autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir, a divided Muslim-majority region that has enjoyed special status in the Indian constitution since the country’s independence in 1947.

India has categorically made it clear to the international community that Kashmir is an internal matter and revocation of Article 370 lies under India’s constitutional framework.