India, France strengthen defence, economic ties with strategic partnerships

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of France, Emmanuel Macron. Pic/PTI

India and France have solidified their defence and economic ties by adopting a Roadmap for Defence Industrial Partnership during French President Emmanuel Macron's State visit for Republic Day celebrations.

According to the ANI report, several major agreements were made, including a letter of intent between India's Defence Ministry and France's Ministry of Armed Forces, which focused on the Defence Space Partnership. In civil aviation, TATA Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus agreed to develop an assembly line for H125 helicopters in India. Another space-related MoU was signed by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) with France's Arianespace S.A.S.

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In addition, the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) and France's Institut National de Recherche pour L'Agriculture, L'Alimentation Et L'Environnement (INRAE) signed a framework collaboration agreement. In the health sector, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the French Ministry of Labour, Health, and Solidarity signed a declaration of intent, the report added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron outlined their vision for the India-France Strategic Partnership, which aims to strengthen their economies, improve security, and contribute to a more sustainable future. The collaboration, as detailed in publications such as Horizon 2047, is consistent with their commitment to sovereignty and strategic autonomy, the ANI report stated.

The leaders highlighted their commitment to bilateral cooperation under three pillars: Partnership for Peace and Prosperity, Partnership for Planet, and Partnership for People. Their joint statement emphasised their will to confront global challenges, develop multilateralism, and contribute to a stable international order. The leaders committed to increasing their global and regional engagement through a variety of initiatives and institutions.

The two leaders also praised their countries' growing intelligence and counterterrorism collaboration. Stronger ties have resulted from this collaboration, which was made possible by the India-France Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism, stated another ANI report.

As stated in the joint statement released after President Macron's state visit for India's Republic Day celebrations, a noteworthy development is the formalised cooperation for agency-level collaboration in counterterrorism between the National Security Guard (NSG) of India and the Groupe d'intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN) of France, per the report.

According to the report, both leaders declared their unwavering commitment to fighting international terrorism and angrily denounced terrorism in all its manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. They advocated for coordinated action against persons connected to organisations listed by the UN Security Council 1267 Sanctions Committee and stressed the significance of denying sanctuary to anyone engaged in terrorist operations.

With agency inputs