New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday met the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is on a three day official visit to New Delhi.
Significance
An expert opines that the French FM visit to India is taking place at a very crucial time when neighbouring Pakistan is making a big hue and cry against French President Macron’s support for satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo showing a ‘blasphemous’ Prophet Mohammed cartoon.
Speaking to ETV Bharat, India’s Former ambassador Jitendra Tripathi said, “It is a very important visit and not a regular one because Indo-Pacific is heating up and the pressure on China is building up. It acquires additional importance from countries like France. Moreover, the French FM's visit to India is taking place at a very crucial time when neighbouring Pakistan is making a big hue and cry against French President Macron’s support for satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo showing a ‘blasphemous’ Prophet Mohammed cartoon.
Read: French Foreign Minister to visit India, discuss bilateral issues
“French fanatics have already demanded that Pak should cease relations with France. Therefore, in that context, the French Foreign Minister's visit to India is even more important”, he added. It is pertinent to note that on Monday, thousands of protestors clashed with police in Lahore in Pakistan, during a demonstration against President Macron's support for a magazine showing a 'blasphemous' Prophet Mohammed cartoon. The anti-French sentiment is running high in Pakistan for months now.
After the bilateral talks, EAM Jaishankar said in a tweet, "A comfortable, substantive and productive discussion with FM @JY_LeDrian. India and France will advance their shared post- COVID agenda through close collaboration”.
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A comfortable, substantive and productive discussion with FM @JY_LeDrian. India and France will advance their shared post-COVID agenda through close collaboration. pic.twitter.com/JcyJgRSDnD
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 13, 2021 " class="align-text-top noRightClick twitterSection" data="
">A comfortable, substantive and productive discussion with FM @JY_LeDrian. India and France will advance their shared post-COVID agenda through close collaboration. pic.twitter.com/JcyJgRSDnD
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 13, 2021A comfortable, substantive and productive discussion with FM @JY_LeDrian. India and France will advance their shared post-COVID agenda through close collaboration. pic.twitter.com/JcyJgRSDnD
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) April 13, 2021
The visit of the French Minister comes at a time when India is stepping up efforts to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
India-EU partnership
“France being an important country in EU set up will certainly play a big role, because, under the leadership of Germany, the European Union had already issued a vision document for EU’s involvement in Indo-Pacific. That way France becomes automatically involved in Indo-Pacific and France needs to have India’s support”, Tripathi pointed out.
The very fact that France as a member of the European Union has always supported the EU’s vision on Indo Pacific, secondly, France is already a member of the India-France-Australia trilateral and thirdly, France is a strategic partner of India. France involvement in Indo-Pacific will be greater day by day, he added.
He said that France has always supported India and in recent years, when at the behest of Pakistan, China made a proposal to consider India as a ‘terrorist state’, France vehemently opposed it and ensured that the proposal is not discussed formally.
“Besides that, the defence procurement agreements, procurement of Rafael and manufacturing of its parts in near future, is in itself the biggest factor in defence cooperation between India and France. France is a very reliable partner of India in the International Solar Alliance and both countries have worked together towards combating the climate crisis. Therefore, the visit of the French Foreign Minister will strengthen the ties further”, he reiterated.
During the meeting between both the leaders, Indo-Pacific remained the key focus of discussions. Both the ministers held talks on bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest, including Myanmar, Iran and the Afghan peace talks.
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Minister Drian also pitched for France to join the Indo-Pacific Oceans initiative launched by India under the leadership of PM Modi. He also pushed for the EU-Indo Pacific strategy during the talks.
Further, Professor Harsh V Pant, Director, Research, ORF, said "The EU is beginning to think of itself as a geopolitical actor and that is good news for India. For a long time, India has complained that European Union despite its power, does not carry any geopolitical heft. From India’s perspective, the inability of the EU to rise above economic and trade issues was seen as an impediment to stronger ties with India".
As the EU emerges from its geopolitical cocoon, EU-India will see a resurgence in their ties. Both sides are very ambitious about the future of EU-India relations at a time of great global flux and regional instability in the Indo-Pacific, he added.
On being asked how crucial France role in the Indo-Pacific region is, Prof Harsh said, “France’s role is going to be extremely crucial in the Indo-Pacific oceans initiative because France is emerging as a very important actor in the Indo-Pacific. France has territories in the Indo-Pacific region and is a responsible stakeholder in the region. The larger the role France plays in the institutionalization of Indo-Pacific, the better it is for India”.
The French Foreign Minister is also slated to call on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Wednesday, the visiting minister will meet the Union Minister of Environment, Prakash Javadekar at a panel discussion on Climate Change.
Minister Le Drian is scheduled to participate in the Raisina Dialogue, which is scheduled to take place later in the evening today.
Another priority that tops the agenda of the talks includes strengthening the bilateral relations between India-France to tackle the main challenges of 2022 like defending multilateralism (with India in UNSC), universal access to vaccine etc. France has been a strong supporter of India at the UN Security Council.
The visit of the French Minister comes ahead of the India-EU summit which is scheduled for May 8 this year.
India and France enjoy a strategic partnership since 1998 which has been marked by regular high-level exchanges and growing cooperation in diverse areas. Le Drian’s visit will pave the way for further strengthening of the partnership across trade, defence, climate, migration and mobility, education and health sectors in the post-Covid context, the MEA had said.
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