The new Ambassador of France to India, Thierry Mathou, will arrive for his first visit to the city on Friday.
Over the two-day visit, Mr. Mathou is scheduled to hold official meetings, meet the French community, and preside over the Commemoration of Armistice Day, which marks the signing of the Armistice agreement to end the First World War, the French Consulate said.
The Ambassador, who will be accompanied by Lise Talbot Barré, Consul General of France in Puducherry and Chennai, will pay a courtesy call on Lt. Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister N. Rangasamy to further the close and wide-ranging historic ties between France and Puducherry, an erstwhile French outpost.
Mr. Mathou will later meet the directors of French institutions in Puducherry to exchange views on their work on educational, cultural, and scientific fronts in Puducherry, the Lycée Français International de Puducherry (International French High School), and Alliance Française, the oldest in the Alliance Française network in India.
Also on the agenda are visits to the French Institute of Pondicherry and École Française d’Extrême-Orient (French Centre for Far-East Studies) to be presented with research and collections, besides interacting with the team of researchers to learn about their contributions and partnerships in India.
He will also meet representatives of the French community and France Volontaires, as well as the business community of Puducherry.
One of the highlights will be the conferment of the insignia of l’Ordre National du Mérite (National Order of Merit) on Satish Nallam at the Consulate General in recognition of his “continuous and important contributions to the cooperation between France and India in the field of culture, heritage, and education”.
On Saturday, the Ambassador will preside over the commemoration ceremony of the 105th anniversary of the 1918 Armistice and pay homage to all civilians and soldiers who “died for France” during the various conflicts in the world. Before concluding his visit, he will also call on Jayanti Ravi, Secretary of the Auroville Foundation, and the French community in Auroville.