“Matter of immense joy to meet my friend” PM Modi holds bilateral talks with Macron
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday (local time) held bilateral meetings with French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil.
Newly sworn-in French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday named Edouard Philippe, the 46-year-old Mayor of Le Havre city, as his Prime Minister.
Philippe is a member of the centre-right Les Republicains party and is close to Alaine Juppe, the former Prime Minister, reports CNN.
The 39-year-old former investment banker and economy minister was inaugurated on Sunday as the 25th President of France and also the youngest in the nation's history in a ceremony at the Élysee Palace.
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Macron is counting on winning votes from centre-right supporters in the legislative elections next month.
His party Le Republique en Marche is scrambling to get 577 candidates together to contest every seat in the country.
Philippe, a lawyer with experience working in the private sector, was born in Rouen and grew up a Left-wing environment.
He was a socialist in his younger days before switching his allegiances to the right.
He has only been a member of Parliament for one term, serving in the National Assembly representing the constituency of Seine-Maritime in Normandy, northern France, since 2012.
He has been Mayor of Le Havre since 2010.
Macron was sworn-in as the President after his landslide victory over far-right National Front leader Marine le Pen, with 66 per cent of the vote in the run-off poll held on May 7.
He is also slated to travel to Germany later on Monday to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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