India, France hold Foreign Office consultations, discuss regional and global affairs
Mar 05, 2024
New Delhi [India], March 5 : India and France held Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) held on Tuesday with the two sides undertaking a comprehensive review of the progress made in various facets of bilateral cooperation.
The Foreign Office Consultations were co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra and Secretary-General (SG) of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Anne-Marie Descotes.
A Ministry of External Affairs release said that during the meeting, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the progress made in various facets of bilateral cooperation, as outlined in the ambitious India France Horizon 2047 Roadmap, adopted during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to France as Guest of Honour at the French National Day on July 14, 2023.
FOC was preceded by the second meeting of Strategic Space Dialogue, co-chaired by the Foreign Secretary and Descotes, and India-France 'Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Dialogue' on March 4.
"The discussions encompassed key areas of bilateral cooperation including defence, civil nuclear energy, space, cyber and digital, AI, Science and Tech, UNSC reforms and multilateral cooperation, blue economy, institutional dialogue mechanisms, and initiatives fostering people-to-people exchanges and cultural ties," the release said.
In addition, the dialogue extended to global and regional affairs, notably on Indo-Pacific, climate action, energy transition, health, trilateral and plurilateral forms of cooperation, and key challenges including the situation in Gaza and the Red Sea and Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The release said that FOC is a pivotal bilateral mechanism that provides cohesiveness to all the existing India-France exchanges.
"Overall, this meeting provided an opportunity to review actions across multifaceted ties between India and France, fostering deeper understanding and collaboration on shared priorities and challenges," it said.
