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French go all out for Narayanan's visit

Ranvir Nayar in Paris

France is laying out its best red carpet for the visit of Indian President K R Narayanan next week.

The visit is being treated as a special event in the French capital since this is the first visit by an Indian President to France, even though French presidents have visited India on four occasions, the latest being the one by Jacques Chirac in January 1998, which also was a huge turning point in the bilateral relationship.

Narayanan will arrive in Paris on Sunday afternoon for the five-day visit that will take him to Toulouse and Avignon in southern France, besides Paris itself.

Eager to get the visit off on the right note, the French have made a number of gestures to Narayanan. To begin with, the duration of the visit itself: normally, state visits last three days, but the French have agreed to a five-day visit, indicating the importance attached by them to the visit. The state visit is also normally to one city, besides Paris, but Narayanan has Toulouse and Avignon, besides Paris on his agenda.

On Sunday, Narayanan will attend a reception hosted by the Indian ambassador to France Kanwal Sibal, which will be attended by leading members of the Indian community in France. The official part of the visit will begin on Monday, with an hour-long meeting with a dozen leading French intellectuals at Marigny, the state VVIP guest-house where Narayanan will stay during his visit.

The president is expected to discuss a whole range of issues with the French intellectual community, including global developments.

On Monday evening at 1700, the President will hold talks with his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac. The talks, expected to last about 90 minutes, will focus on a whole range of issues -- international, bilateral and regional. The meeting will be followed by a banquet dinner hosted by Chirac in Narayanan's honour.

The Indian President will meet then Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on Tuesday morning for a meeting that will be followed by a working lunch at Matignon, the Prime Minister's Office in Paris. The meeting will be preceded by a civic reception hosted by Jean Tiberi, mayor of Paris.

On Tuesday afternoon, Narayanan will leave for Toulouse, headquarters of Airbus Industrie, the world's second largest aircraft manufacturer and also Aerospatiale Matra, the French aerospace giant. Narayanan will visit the plants of these two companies and have lunch with nearly 50 corporate leaders and other French dignitaries on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the President will leave for Avignon in Provence, where he will visit the Palais des Papes (headquarters of the Pope in the middle ages that rivalled the Vatican). Avignon - which has been home to a wide range of cultural figures like Vincent Van Gogh, Monet, Cezanne and Massaret -- is a major cultural showpiece of France that the French government always display to the visiting heads of states.

Narayanan will also sign the famous Livre d'Or (the Golden Book) in Avignon.

The state visit will conclude on Friday when the President departs for Venice on a private visit.

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