“We Want To Further Strengthen Our Defence Cooperation”: PM Modi To France President Emmanuel Macron

Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India was ready to help bring peace in the Ukraine conflict as during his meet with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The detrimental effects of the conflict and pandemic on the Global South, according to Modi, are a cause for concern. He emphasised the importance of all nations working together to address these problems.

At the Modi-Macron summit, the two leaders announced continued cooperation on fighter jets and submarines and signed a common agreement that will guide bilateral relations through 2047. There were 63 outcomes in total, but none of them made reference to the proposed and much awaited agreement for the Indian Navy to purchase Rafale-M aircraft.

Mentioning that the foundation pillar of India France relationship is Defence cooperation PM Modi said, “France is a major partner in our Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives. We are going to talk today about the co-development and co-production of new technologies in defence.”

He further added, “There is a possibility of increasing cooperation between our defence, space agencies. We want to further strengthen our defence cooperation.’’

Despite not being a Quad member, India views France as a crucial ally in the Indo-Pacific. Modi emphasised the importance of Paris in the region’s strategy when he stated that as resident powers, India and France shared the duty to maintain peace and security in the area. He declared that the two nations were collaborating on an Indo-Pacific roadmap that included triangular development cooperation.

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