French President Emmanuel Macron will be the Chief Guest at 75th Republic Day of India, making France the only country to be invited 6 times, highest for any nation.

➜ Take a look back at France's participation in #RepublicDay : (1/7)

In 1976, Prime Minister Jacques Chirac became the first French leader to be invited for India’s Republic Day.

An admirer of India who had studied Sanskrit, he saw India as a major emerging power and pushed for boosting political and economic cooperation with France. (2/7)

President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing saw great potential in Indo-French ties and was the first French President to visit India as Chief Guest on Republic Day in 1980.

He underscored the major role India had to play in global affairs. (3/7)

Jacques Chirac came back to India as Republic Day Chief Guest in 1998, this time as President.

In a historic speech, he proposed to raise 🇫🇷🇮🇳 bilateral ties to the level of a strategic partnership, the first ever for France outside the EU. (4/7)

President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2008 visit marked 10 years of the 🇫🇷🇮🇳 strategic partnership and provided fresh impetus to deepen it and expand to new areas such as fighting climate change. (5/7)

In 2016, President François Hollande's visit for Republic Day focused on initiatives to strengthen defence, business and people-to-people ties.

Moreover, a French contingent marched down Kartavya Path, a first for any foreign nation. (6/7)

As our Indian friends come together to celebrate the 75th #RepublicDay of India, we join them in celebrating the common values of “liberty, equality, fraternity”, which are enshrined in both our Constitutions. (7/7)