France and India have agreed to step up their bilateral defense and security partnership by improving intelligence and information sharing, conducting more joint military exercises, and pushing for new initiatives in the maritime, space, and cyber domains.
During the annual India-France Strategic Dialogue held earlier this month, French Presidential Diplomatic Advisor Emmanuel Bonne said his country is willing to support Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” (self-reliant India) and improved defense industrialization.
According to the Indian Embassy in Paris, the two countries agreed that emerging trends in global affairs call for a closer partnership. It also stated that France and India would continue enhancing bilateral cooperation and assisting other countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
“India welcomed EU’s Indo Pacific strategy and looked forward to French presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2022 as an opportunity to give further shape to EU’s engagement in the Indo Pacific region, including in security, connectivity, sustainability and economic development,” the embassy said, as quoted by NDTV.
The partnership between India and France comes nearly two months after Australia joined in a new security alliance with the UK and the US, which resulted in France losing a multibillion-dollar deal to build 12 conventional submarines for Canberra.
France has reportedly sought closer relations with leading Asian nations to establish deeper strategic ties in the Pacific region.
