NSA Ajit Doval holds strategic dialogue with France

Contact Counsellor

Last Updated07/11/2021

India and France committed to closer cooperation in the Indo-Pacific through more intelligence sharing and expanding bilateral exercises in the maritime sphere, as NSA Ajit Doval met with French President’s diplomatic advisor Emmanuel Bonne in Paris for the annual strategic dialogue
The two sides agreed to strengthen bilateral defence and security partnership through enhanced intelligence and information sharing, operational cooperation, bolstering mutual capabilities, expanding bilateral exercises and pursuing new initiatives in maritime, space and cyber domains.

The two sides also discussed the continuing challenge of terrorism; and, emerging threats in maritime, cyber and space domains.
Mr Doval travelled to France after accompanying Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who travelled to Rome for the G20 summit and Glasgow for the COP26 climate change summit.
NSA’s meeting was the first formal bilateral meeting between India and France since the blow-up over U.S. President Biden’s announcement of a new Indo-Pacific alliance with the U.K. and Australia.
The alliance meant that Australia’s ongoing discussions with France for submarines was shelved, and the French President reacted sharply to the “betrayal” by allies, recalling diplomats and issuing demarches over the issue.
New Delhi, which was also informed about the new alliance just days before PM Modi’s visit to the U.S. for the Quad summit, distanced itself from the alliance, leading to speculation that India would open talks with France for the same submarines.
The strategic partnership of France and India is essential to strengthening multilateralism and the defence of an Indo-Pacific space [that is] free, open and based on the excellent conversation worthy of a trusted strategic partnership

In the 17th century, Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb had a French physician named François Bernier.
The French were the last colonial power to enter into trade with India. It was only in the seventeenth century that they did so, decades after the English and the Dutch entered India for commercial purposes.
The French were left with a few disparate colonies, all of which combined were called French India. These places were Pondicherry, Mahe, Yanam, Karaikal and Chandannagar.
During the Indian freedom struggle against the British, many freedom fighters, such as Aurobindo Ghosh and Subramanya Bharathi took refuge in French India to escape from the British.
In 1947, France established diplomatic relations with an independent India.
In 1948, an agreement was signed between both countries that stated that the people of French India were free to choose their political future.
In August 1962, as per the Treaty of Cession signed in 1956, the French ceded all their possessions in India to the Indian government. Accordingly, all the former French colonies were administered as the Union Territory of Puducherry.

In 1998, the relationship between India and France took a new turn, when both nations entered into a strategic partnership.
The 3 principal pillars of this strategic partnership are:

The commonality in the relationship is that both countries support a multi-polar world led by democracies and not one that is polarised into two factions.
France has been a continued supporter of India’s claims to permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
France has also been a great supporter of India for membership to all the four multilateral export control regimes, namely, the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and the Australia Group (AG).France’s support was instrumental in India’s accession to the WA, MTCR and the AG.

In March 2018, French President Emmanuel Macron visited India during which 14 business-to-business agreements were signed.
PM Modi had visited France in June 2017, and also previously in April 2015. The latter was his first visit to a European country as PM.
France is the only country to be invited five times to the Republic Day Parade in India. This is the highest for any country.

Regular talks take place between the service chiefs of both nations. An annual defence dialogue at the ministerial level has also been initiated in 2018.
Regular defence exercises take place between France and India.
Some of them are:

India also buys defence equipment from France, the most famous of them being Rafale aircraft and the P-75 Scorpene project.
An agreement for building six Scorpène submarines in India with French help was signed in 2005.

ISRO and CNES (the French space agency) have conducted joint research programmes and satellite launches.
Examples of joint Indo-French satellites: TRISHNA, Megha-Tropiques, etc.
France is a major supplier of equipment and components for the Indian space programme.

An agreement for civil nuclear cooperation was signed in 2008 when the then PM Manmohan Singh visited France.

The Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advance Research (CEFIPRA), formed in 1987, funds joint proposals for research in the sciences. Its research has led to several patents.
Since 2013, CEFIPRA has also awarded Raman-Charpak scholarships to scholars of Indian and French origins.