Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday reiterated their commitment to strengthen bilateral defence cooperation through partnership in design, development, testing and manufacture of advanced defence technologies and platforms, and expand production in India, including for third countries in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. In this context, they also called for early finalisation of the Defence Industrial Roadmap.
The two leaders had a bilateral meeting over lunch after the conclusion of the G20 Summit. The two leaders discussed, assessed and reviewed the progress in bilateral relations since their last meeting in July 2023 in Paris. They also exchanged views on important international and regional developments.
The two leaders emphasised the need to expand their collaboration to address regional and global challenges, acknowledging the strength of India France partnership, founded in deep trust, shared values, belief in sovereignty and strategic autonomy.
They reiterated their unwavering commitment to collectively serve as a force of good, carrying the message of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ i.e. ‘one earth, one family, one future’ during tumultuous times reshaping the global order.
With the ‘Horizon 2047’ Roadmap, the Indo-Pacific Roadmap and other outcomes during PM Modi’s visit to Paris serving as recent points of reference, the two leaders discussed overall progress and next steps on the implementation of the new and ambitious goals for cooperation in areas of defence, space, nuclear energy, digital public infrastructure, critical technology, climate change, education, and people-to-people contacts.
They also carried forward their discussions on India-France partnership in the Indo Pacific region and Africa, including in infrastructure, connectivity, energy, biodiversity, sustainability and industrial projects.
They underlined their role as providers of solutions for the Indo-Pacific through their cooperation in the framework of the International Solar Alliance, launched by India and France, and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
President Macron congratulated Mr Modi on India’s success of Mission Chandrayaan 3. The two leaders recalled six decades of India-France Space cooperation and reviewed the progress since holding of the first Strategic Space Dialogue in June 2023.
They acknowledged the strong India-France civil nuclear ties and good progress in the discussion for the Jaitapur nuclear plant project. France reiterated its steadfast and unwavering support for India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.