2023-12-22 13:42:32
French President Emmanuel Macron accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invite to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 next year. “I’ll be here to celebrate with you!,” wrote Macron on X (formerly Twitter), thanking PM Modi, whom he referred to as “my dear friend” for the invite.
Macron is the sixth French leader who will be the chief guest at the 2024 Republic Day parade. Former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac graced the event twice, in 1976 and 1998. Former presidents Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, attended the celebrations in 1980, 2008, and 2016, respectively.
Earlier, in September, US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said President of the United States, Joe Biden was invited to be the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations. However, Biden reportedly declined the invitation and the Quad Summit which was to be held around Republic Day was also postponed.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was the chief guest at the 2023 Republic Day celebrations in January.
