Maritime security top agenda

INDIA, FRANCE AND AUSTRALIA ARE ON THE SAME PAGE ON ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES IN THE INDO-PACIFIC

NEW DELHI: The foreign ministers of India, France and Australia will hold trilateral talks in Delhi on April 13 to discuss steps to strengthen maritime security and collaborate on shared challenges in the Indo-Pacific region, people familiar with the development said.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of a conference on geopolitics, Raisina Dialogue, which will also be attended by heads of state of Rwanda and Denmark apart from 10 foreign ministers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend the opening and closing of the event.

French foreign minister JeanDelhi

Yves Le Drian will begin his twoday visit to India on the evening of April 12.

His meeting with Indian external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Australian foreign minister Marise Payne is scheduled for the following day.

India, France and Australia are on the same page on addressing the challenges in the Indo-Pacific. In recent months, France has come around to acknowledging the central role that New

can play in the shared commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. It is in recognition of the role that New Delhi can play that France decided to hold the La Pérouse joint naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal on April 4-7, and invited the Indian Navy to the wargame.

The joint exercise, first held in 2019, earlier included navies from the three other members of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad: Australia, Japan and the US.

“This (trilateral dialogue) will be a meeting of middle powers, who have democratic polity and have the economic strength and shared values to help each other in terms of trade and technology,” said a senior Indian official.