New Delhi: Citing an “increasingly uncertain global environment” – amid which French President Emmanuel Macron endorsed ‘not submitting to hegemony’ and ‘rejecting methods of coercion’ – the two sides during his visit to Mumbai on Tuesday (February 17) upgraded their relationship to a “special global strategic partnership”.India and France, which have set up a ‘comprehensive dialogue’ between their foreign ministers to review the implementation of their enhanced partnership, on Tuesday also inaugurated the final assembly line for a helicopter being jointly produced by Airbus and Tata outside Bengaluru and announced the emendation of a bilateral tax treaty.Macron, who arrived in Mumbai on Monday night, is in India for a three-day visit and is scheduled to attend the AI Impact Summit in Delhi on Thursday among other events before returning to France.A joint statement issued on Tuesday mentioned that both sides are upgrading ties to a special global strategic partnership in light of their leaderships’ aim to not only enhance their economies and security but “work collectively towards addressing challenges in an increasingly uncertain global environment” and “help build a stable rules-based international order”. Bilateral relations were bumped to a ‘strategic partnership’ in 1998.During his remarks to the press at Lok Bhavan in Mumbai’s Malabar Hill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi situated the Indo-French relationship in “today’s turbulent era” and said it is “not merely strategic” but a “force for global stability”, against the backdrop of the Donald Trump administration’s unsettling of international relations including through the use of tariffs.Speaking after him Macron echoed this sentiment, saying that the bilateral relationship is “in a phase of remarkable acceleration in response to the transformation of the international order”.“We believe in international trade. We reject methods of coercion. And that is why the free trade agreement between India and the European Union is an important step that France strongly supports,” he said, referring to New Delhi and Brussels concluding negotiations for their trade deal earlier this year in the wake of Washington’s tariff policies. Modi too mentioned the pact in his remarks.Referring to critical minerals, Macron said in his address that “India and France have the same vision on this subject, one that consists … of not submitting to any form of hegemony and not falling into the conflict of a few”.Later in his remarks he also said that the multilateralism both sides are advocating for is necessary in dealing with the “major conflicts” of the world. “We must act to end the war of aggression waged by Russia” in Ukraine and “establish a just and lasting peace”, he said.“As the ceasefire remains – and I regret it – difficult to obtain, we could unite our efforts to support the establishment of an immediate and lasting moratorium on strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, which are a salutary, indispensable short-term objective in this matter,” said Macron.Tuesday’s joint statement also called for a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine but did not mention Russia. New Delhi, which has had years of close security ties with Moscow, has not publicly criticised the latter since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The statement also expressed support for the implementation of Trump’s ‘Gaza peace plan’.Modi and Macron virtually inaugurated the final assembly line for the H125 light utility helicopter being jointly manufactured by Airbus and Tata Advanced Systems outside Bengaluru.In that southern city, defence minister Rajnath Singh and his French opposite number Catherine Vautrin held the annual bilateral defence dialogue where the two sides renewed their ten-year defence cooperation agreement and announced a reciprocal deployment of Indian Army and French Land Forces officers. They also formalised a joint venture between Bharat Electronics Limited and France’s Safran to produce the ‘HAMMER’ air-to-surface weapon in India.On the defence front the French delegation’s visit comes on the heels of the Indian government greenlighting the purchase of 114 French Rafale fighter jets.Both sides on Tuesday also announced an amendment of their bilateral tax treaty, which Modi said during his press remarks would “avoid double taxation for our people and companies”.The French president, who earlier in the day jogged along Mumbai’s Marine Drive, visited the Taj Mahal Hotel to pay respects to those killed in the 26/11 terror attack and met leaders from Bollywood, invited Modi to participate in the G7 summit that is scheduled to take place in France later this year.