Prime Minister Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, both sides welcomed the ongoing intense cooperation across all defence domains. India and France agreed to work in close proximity in line with the Make in India initiatives to address challenges related to space issues, besides having deeper ties in climate change and defence-related matters. Building on the great tradition of over 60 years of technical and scientific space cooperation, and addressing the contemporary challenges that have arisen in space, in particular maintaining secure access to space for all, India and France have agreed on setting up a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to France.
A joint statement from the meeting stated, “It will bring together experts from space and defence agencies, administration and specialised ecosystem to discuss security and economic challenges in outer space, and norms and principles applicable to space as well as unveil new areas of cooperation. The two sides agreed to hold the first dialogue this year at the earlier.” During the meeting between PM Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, both sides welcomed the ongoing intense cooperation across all defence domains, Joint exercises (Shakti, Varuna, Pegase, Desert Knight, Garuda) illustrate efforts towards better integration and interoperability where possible.
India and France underscored that the long-standing armament cooperation is testimony to the mutual trust between the two sides. The six Scorpene submarines built at MDL in Mumbai illustrate the level of transfer of technology from France to India, in line with the “Make in India” initiative. In an increasingly digitalised world, India and France have strengthened cooperation between their cyber security agencies. Based on a convergent outlook, they agree to join forces in promoting cyber norms and principles to counter cyber threats and agree to upgrade their bilateral cyber dialogue to contribute to a peaceful, secure and open cyberspace.
India-Nordic relations are coming of age, during the recent visit of PM Modi to the 2nd India-Nordic Summit things have started looking brighter than before. During the Summit, the Prime Ministers pledged to continue to deepen cooperation between the Nordic countries and India and focused their discussions on key issues related to international peace and security, including the conflict in Ukraine, multilateral cooperation, green transition and climate change, the blue economy, innovation and digitalisation. The Prime Ministers reaffirmed the importance of free trade as a driver for achieving inclusive growth and realising the Sustainable Development Goals.