India meets France to focus on research, development for future wars

Ajit Doval, the national security adviser for India, met with Sebastien Lecornu, the French minister of defence, to address a range of issues of interest, including global, regional, and bilateral security-related concerns. According to officials acquainted with the matter, a focus on manufacturing and research and development in line with the needs of potential battles was given during the discussion.

In keeping with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron’s ideas, the pair emphasised the necessity for a strategy that is action-oriented and time-bound. In accordance with the Make-in-India objective of the Modi government, both sides were also able to jointly strategize and select key areas for co-development.

“Special attention would be paid to cooperation in security related aspects of the global commons including Space, Cyber and Maritime to ensure peace, stability in the Indo-Pacific,” people cited above said.

On Monday, defence minister Rajnath Singh and his French counterpart attended the 4th India-France Annual Defence Dialogue in New Delhi. The two leaders discussed a wide range of bilateral, regional, defence and defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed. Singh and Lecorno reviewed the ongoing military-to-military cooperation which has increased substantially in recent years, according to defence minstry’s release.

They also talked about how to broaden and complicate bilateral drills while enhancing marine cooperation. The two sides acknowledged that India and France’s bilateral air exercise, “Garuda VII,” was successfully conducted at Air Force Station, Jodhpur.

“The Ministers recognised their convergences on number of strategic & defence issues and shared the commitment to work together on enhancing cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region. France is the current chair of Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) and Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and both countries cooperate closely in these fora,” the statement read.