Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last leg of his 3-nation trip met French President Emmanuel Macron late on Wednesday. The two met like old friends and discussed various issues that ranged from Ukraine to Indo-Pacific and defence and bilateral trade.
“We talked at length about bilateral as well as global issues. India and France are proud developmental partners with our partnership spread across different sectors,” said Modi.
The Indian prime minister last visited France in August 2019. The two leaders have stayed in touch through calls and written communication. They also met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit last year.
“We discussed different ongoing international crises as well as our strategic partnership. We also talked about food security issues and farm initiative in which India will play a key role,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.
The issues that came under discussion included all key areas of bilateral engagement including defence, space, civil nuclear cooperation and people to people linkages.
In the Defence segment, 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. The timely delivery of Rafale despite the pandemic shows the synergy in defence, said the joint statement issued after the two leaders met.
“On Ukraine there was a broad understanding of each other’s position. The two leaders agreed that close coordination and engagement was important. So that both India and France can play a constructive role in the evolving situation,” said Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra adding that they also discussed developments in Indo-Pacific.
PM Modi gave an elaborate understanding of the space from where the Indian position originated and also called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and resolution of the ongoing situation through diplomacy and dialogue.
Both countries underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.
Both the leaders exchanged views on the cascading effect of the situation in Ukraine in terms of global food shortages, shortages of commodities (such as fertiliser) and how the two countries could partner in order to address these challenges.
A joint statement issued by India and France expressed serious concern about the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. They unequivocally condemned civilian deaths in Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to bring parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy to find an immediate end to the suffering of the people. Both countries underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. The two leaders discussed the regional and global implications of the conflict in Ukraine and agreed to intensify coordination on the issue.
Further, India and France expressed deep concern about the current aggravation of global food security and nutrition, already impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially in developing countries. The statement said they are committed to enabling a coordinated, multilateral response to address the risk of aggravated food crisis because of the conflict in Ukraine, including through initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM), which aims at ensuring well-functioning markets, solidarity and long-term resilience.
On Afghanistan, India and France expressed serious concern about the humanitarian situation and violation of human rights and reiterated strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan, emphasizing respect for its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and non-interference in its internal affairs.
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External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar also met his counterpart Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drain during the visit.
In the Indo-France Indo-Pacific partnership discussions were held around defence, security, trade, investment, connectivity, health and sustainability.
Counter-terrorism cooperation was a cornerstone of the Indo-French strategic partnership in the Indo Pacific. The two nations condemned all forms of terrorism.
Both sides will take part in the `No Money for Terro’ international conference to be hosted by India during the course of this year.
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