Macron awards India's Modi France's highest order of merit: presidency

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be guest of honour for France's Bastille Day celebrations on Friday, which are set to take place under tight security two weeks after riots swept the country.

Around 45,000 police will be deployed nationwide in the evening while firework sales have been banned as the government aims to prevent a repeat of the urban violence seen at the end of June, following the police killing of a teenager.

The annual Bastille Day festivities, which mark the storming of the Bastille prison at the start of the French Revolution in 1789, kick off with a traditional military parade in the morning that will see over 5,000 people sweep down the Champs Elysees.

French President Emmanuel Macron awarded Modi the grand cross of the Legion of Honour, the country's top order of merit, the presidency announced on Friday.

The award was granted to salute "the role of the prime minister in the excellent relations of friendship and confidence that unite France and India", the Elysee said in a statement.

Modi said on Twitter that he had accepted the award "with great humility", hailing it as "an honour for the 1.4 billion residents of India".

The honouring of Modi this year reflects deepening ties between France and India, which are marking 25 years of "strategic partnership".

Modi called Macron his "friend" in a speech to Indians living in France on Thursday evening.

"This closeness is not limited to just the leaders of two countries, it is in fact a reflection of the unwavering friendship between India and France," Modi said.

The Indian defence ministry on Thursday announced its intention to procure another 26 French-made Rafale fighter jets as well as three more Scorpene-class submarines in a deal expected to be worth billions of euros.

Despite differences over the war in Ukraine and tensions over human rights in India, Western democracies are courting Modi and India as a military and economic counterweight to China.

Macron's red carpet welcome comes weeks after Modi was given the rare honour of a White House state dinner in Washington -- a city he was once banned from visiting.

Macron told a meeting of military leaders on Thursday evening that India was "a giant of world history which will have a decisive role for our future".

Bastille Day is set to be a more sober affair than in previous years following five nights of rioting from June 27 after the fatal police shooting of a teenager in a Paris suburb.

The most intense urban clashes in nearly two decades saw thousands of cars torched, public property destroyed and more than 3,700 people arrested, many of them minors.

• India's Modi is guest of honour at Paris Bastille Day parade, Macron rebuffs human rights critics