Republic Day 2024: French President Emmanuel Macron may participate as the chief guest in the Republic Day celebrations in 2024. According to PTI, India has officially extended an invitation to Macron in this regard.
Earlier, the central government had invited U.S. President Joe Biden as the chief guest, but he expressed inability to visit Delhi in January.
Prime Minister Modi visited France in July, where he was honoured as a distinguished guest during the Bastille Day celebrations in Paris.
Emmanuel Macron will be the sixth French leader to participate as the chief guest in India's Republic Day parade in 2024.
Former French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac had graced this event twice in 1976 and 1998. Previous French Presidents, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, Nicolas Sarkozy, and François Hollande, had also participated as chief guests in the Republic Day celebrations in 1980, 2008, and 2016, respectively.
At the beginning of this year, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of Egypt, was the chief guest at India's Republic Day parade.
Every year, India extends invitations to foreign dignitaries to participate in its Republic Day celebrations.
Only on two occasions, in 2021 and 2022, no foreign dignitary was invited as the chief guest due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Republic Day festivities.
