Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday held the annual defence dialogue with his French counterpart Florence Parly that focused on further enhancing bilateral defence and security cooperation in all domains.
Sources said the two leaders also discussed the situation in Afghanistan after the takeover by the Taliban and deliberated on China and Pakistan.
“Rajnath Singh and Florence Parly held wide-ranging talks with a focus on pressing regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, and China and Pakistan,” said an official in India’s defence ministry.
India, he said, is facing the threat of two-front aggression from Pakistan and China.
The Indian and Chinese armies have been locked in a border standoff in eastern Ladakh since May last year.
After the bilateral dialogue, Rajnath tweeted: “India-France Strategic Partnership is more relevant today than ever. I had an excellent meeting with my French counterpart, Ms @florence_parly. A wide range of bilateral, regional and defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed in the Annual Defence Dialogue today.”
Officials privy to the talks said Rajnath also highlighted that French companies can either collaborate with Indian firms or manufacture in India under the Make in India campaign.
“The ministers reviewed the existing military-to-military cooperation, which has increased in spite of pandemic challenges. They discussed ways to increase defence cooperation in all domains. Defence industrial cooperation was discussed with focus on future collaborations and co-production between the two countries,” a statement from India’s defence ministry said.
Last month India and France had held in the European country their annual bilateral army exercise, Shakti, with a focus on counter-terrorist operations.
Rajnath and Florence on Friday acknowledged their convergences on a number of strategic and defence issues and expressed commitment to work together to enhance cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral forums.
“France is the current chair of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium and shall take over the Presidency of the European Union from January 1, 2022. The two Ministers decided to work closely on a number of issues during the French Presidency,” the statement said.
Earlier in the day, Florence had called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She is also expected to meet national security adviser Ajit Doval to discuss regional issues.
