Doval is chief architect of India-France ties in past decade: former Envoy Ashraf

The India-France Strategic Partnership has been driven by leaders of both countries and their National Security Advisors said former Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf as he was conferred one of  France’s highest civilian honours. Mr. Ashraf, who was honoured with the “Commander de la Légion d’Honneur” (Commander of the Legion of Honour), a 1991 batch IFS officer is currently the Chairman of (ITPO). He served as Indian Ambassador to Singapore and Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office before he retired in 2025.

France’s Ambassador to India Thierry Mathou conferred the insignia on Mr. Ashraf commending him for his contribution to the bilateral relationship at a ceremony in Delhi attended by National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, and former Indian diplomats to France. Kanwal Sibal, who is now Chancellor of Jawaharlal Nehru University and BJP Member of Parliament Harsh Shringla., both former Foreign Secretaries were also present at the ceremony. 

“If there has been one major architect and driver of this partnership over the past decade, it has been our National Security Advisor [Ajit Doval],” Mr. Ashraf said in his speech, describing the areas of cooperation including trade, science, defence and nuclear energy. “There have been times when Delhi has been distracted by other preoccupations, he has held the relationship on a steady course,” he added.

Mr. Ashraf, who served in Paris from 2020-2024, was first posted as a diplomat to France in 1998. This was the year the two countries signed the Strategic Partnership, the second such partnership India entered into after South Africa, and came months before India conducted a nuclear test (May 1997). Mr. Ashraf told the audience of how, while the U.S. had been extremely critical of the India’s decision to test a nuclear device at Pokhran, which was followed by Pakistan’s test, France’s Diplomatic Advisor at the time only asked why India had “taken so long” to do so. France did not join other global powers in imposing sanctions on India at the time. 

Only eight other Indians including industrialists JRD Tata and Ratan Tata, Artistes S.H. Raza, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Manna Dey, Film Director and Author Satyajit Ray and Economist Nobel laureate Amartya Sen have been given the same honour. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the highest award, the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, in 2023, when Mr. Ashraf was Ambassador to France.