India and France hold talks on deepening bilateral military ties
India and France on Monday discussed ways to deepen their bilateral military ties with a focus on defence industrial cooperation pivoting on the Make in India initiative, increasing the scope and complexity of exercises between their armed forces, and boosting maritime cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, officials familiar with the matter said
The 4th India-France Annual Defence Dialogue between defence minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu was held on Monday.
A wide range of bilateral, regional, defence and defence-industrial cooperation issues were discussed, and the ministers
reviewed the ongoing military-tomilitary cooperation which has gone up substantially in the recent years, the defence ministry said in a statement.
“Had warm and fruitful discussions with the Defence Minister of France, Mr Sebastien Lecornu during the fourth India-France Annual Defence Dialogue in New Delhi today. A wide range of bilateral, regional & defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed during the dialogue,” Singh tweeted.
France has been increasingly looking at strengthening its strategic partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region — the country is present in the region through its overseas territories, and 93% of its exclusive economic zone is located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
“The ministers recognised their convergence on a number of strategic and defence issues and shared the commitment to work together on enhancing cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region,” the ministry said.