Most world leaders are ditching the handshake and are adapting the Indian style of greeting given the current scenario. Because, right now, shaking hands must be avoided at all costs.
This time, French president Emmanuel Macron welcomed German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his Mediterranean holiday retreat, in southern France, by leaning forward and folding his hands in the traditional Indian greeting style.
Willkommen im Fort de Brégançon, liebe Angela! pic.twitter.com/lv8yKm6wWV
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) August 20, 2020
The two leaders are meeting to discuss a long list of subjects including the pandemic, post-election unrest in Belarus and growing tensions with Turkey.

Their clip of greeting each other with Namaste has gone viral on the internet and Indians can’t keep calm.
Namaste(नमस्ते) used as form of greeting by President of France and Chancellor of Germany 🙏🙏
— Srijan Das (@srijann25) August 20, 2020
#Namaste going Global https://t.co/ZoaqVasxs2
— Kapil Roop Rai (@kapilrooprai) August 21, 2020
Namaste🙏
— Kanchan Gupta (@KanchanGupta) August 21, 2020
President Emmanuel Macron of #France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of #Germany greet each other. https://t.co/AGGcvIahcK
Today #Namaste is not just a word to greet someone. It is a practice of keeping away the #Corona
— Vinod Patel (@inboxvinodpatel) August 21, 2020
I am astonish to see the popularity of Indian version greeting (namastey), which is a very safe norm to use at this time of pandemic.
— Jagdish Singhal (@JagdishSingha17) August 20, 2020
Namaste is Global !
— All India Radio News (@airnewsalerts) August 20, 2020
📸:When Emmanuel Macron, President of France and Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany greet each other with Namastepic.twitter.com/jHUhW2CfPY

Have to say, Namaste is becoming quite a popular form of greeting among world leaders in the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Namaste goes global!