NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR Ajit Doval met with his counterpart, the visiting Diplomatic Adviser to the French President, Emmanuel Bonne, on Thursday and reaffirmed their commitment to advance their strategic partnership to ensure peace, stability, and security in the Indo-Pacific based on shared beliefs in a rules-based international order and strategic autonomy.
They also discussed the situation in Afghanistan, Africa, South East Asia, Eurasia; Third Country Cooperation; cooperation in the lndo-Pacific, nuclear energy, space and cyber domains.
A statement by the Ministry of External Affairs said, “During the Strategic Dialogue and the meetings, India and France reiterated their commitment to take forward their strategic partnership to ensure peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific based on common beliefs in rules-based international order and strategic autonomy.”
The MEA said that the two sides discussed the global security environment, expanding the scope of defence cooperation to include co-development of futuristic technologies in line with India’s priorities of Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat.
“The agenda included discussions on the situation in Afghanistan, Africa, South East Asia, Eurasia; Third Country Cooperation; cooperation in the lndo-Pacific, nuclear energy, space and cyber domains. Both sides also agreed to strengthen bilateral defence and security cooperation including in the South West Indian Ocean Region and the Indo-Pacific and pursuit of new initiatives in critical and emerging technologies,” it said.
The MEA also said that both sides reiterated that in view of the emerging uncertainties and volatile global security environment, there was a need for closer cooperation between India and France, including in the UNSC and other multilateral forums.
The French Embassy in Delhi said they discussed aspects of the Indo-French strategic partnership which includes defence and security cooperation, major international and regional issues, including the war in Ukraine, and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, counter-terrorism cooperation, cyber-security, space and civil nuclear energy.