Daily Times

NEW YORK: French President Emmanuel Macron defied the notion of isolationism and called on the world to adopt multilateralism in his address to the 73rd UN General Assembly session held in New York City on Tuesday (25 Sept). He was indirectly referring to US President Donald Trump’s speech earlier in the day which embodied the notions of nationalism and ‘self-styled’ patriotism. Moreover, he also indicated that his government would refuse to sign trade deals with those countries that do not endorse the Paris climate agreement.

On the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed by P5+1 countries with the Iranian regime, he ‘strongly’ defended the deal and emphasised on meaningful dialogue with Tehran. After the US government pulled out of the deal in May 2018, the European, Chinese and Russian leaders have been continuously pushing for keeping it intact.

Later on, in a press briefing at the UN Headquarters, Macron also answered a question related to the Rafale jet deal signed with New Delhi back in 2015 on which he stated that he wasn’t in-charge at the time. The issue has landed Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s government in hot waters after former French president François Hollande stated in an interview last week that his government was left with no choice but to choose Indian business tycoon Anil Ambani’s firm Reliance Defence as Dassault’s local partner instead of the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

A recent comment by Raghunath Nambiar, the Deputy Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has also caused controversy in Indian political circles after he claimed that the deal was ‘better’ than the one negotiated for 126 Rafale jets previously.

Published in Daily Times, September 27^th 2018.