France to help India in advanced military technologies

France stressed continuing its commitment to the Indo Pacific region and termed its partnership with India as a “major pillar of its Indo Pacific strategy,” the Indian embassy in Paris said.

Published on: Nov 6, 2021, 17:09:57 IST

By Shishir Gupta, Hindustan Times, New Delhi

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France reiterated its commitment to fully support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and defence industrialisation, joint research and technology development in India across a wide range of advanced capabilities, the Indian embassy in Paris said on Saturday after the dialogue between national security advisor Ajit Doval and Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron. What has been left unsaid in the statement is France is willing to be a technology partner with India for the development of the latest military technologies in air, sea, land and cyber domains.

NSA Ajit Doval with French Defence Minister Florence Parly at Les Invalides ceremonial reception

On the sidelines of the annual India-France Strategic Dialogue, Doval also met French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and defence minister Florence Parly. He reiterated that France is one of India’s premier global and Indo Pacific partners.

According to the Indian embassy, France stressed continuing its commitment to the Indo Pacific region and termed its partnership with India as a “major pillar of its Indo Pacific strategy.”

During the annual strategic dialogue and meetings, two sides reaffirmed that their strategic partnership has a vital role to play in advancing peace, stability and security in the Indo Pacific region, a vision spelt out during the recent meeting between PM Modi and the French President on the sidelines of G20 Summit.

Also Read | India-France to deepen maritime security, talk Afghanistan

The Indian and French delegation discussed the global security environment, including current developments and long term challenges in the Indo Pacific region, the Afghanistan situation and the continuing challenge of terrorism. Emerging threats in maritime, cyber and space domains were also discussed as they agreed that the emerging trends in global affairs reinforce the need for a closer partnership between India and France, especially on world forums.

The democratic values and a common belief in strategic autonomy, rule of law, multipolarity and multilateralism have been the basis of the mutual trust and partnership between the two nations, the embassy said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shishir Gupta
Shishir Gupta is Executive Editor at Hindustan Times and one of India's top journalists covering national security, strategic affairs, foreign policy and geopolitics. Over the past three decades, he has extensively reported on India's military, diplomatic and security landscape, covering every major conflict and national security challenge, from the 1999 Kargil War and the 2020 East Ladakh standoff to Operation Sindoor in 2025. He has also covered major terror attacks, including the IC-814 hijacking, the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and the 2025 Pahalgam terror strike, along with numerous Pakistan-backed terrorist incidents in the Kashmir Valley and across India. He has reported on national and state elections for more than three decades. A recognised authority on strategic affairs, Gupta has covered India's nuclear programme since the Pokhran-II (Shakti series) tests in May 1998 and has written extensively on global nuclear issues, Indian diplomacy and the country's expanding global outreach. He has also reported widely on international conflicts and terrorism, with a special focus on the Indian subcontinent. Gupta has interviewed Prime Minister Narendra Modi more than four times, including Modi's first interview with the print media after becoming Prime Minister in May 2014. His other interviews include three with the Dalai Lama, as well as conversations with Benjamin Netanyahu, Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath, S. Jaishankar, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal. He is the author of Indian Mujahideen: The Enemy Within (Hachette, 2011) and Himalayan Face-off: Chinese Assertion and Indian Riposte (Hachette, 2014). He was awarded the Chevening-Wolfson Joint Scholarship at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge, UK, in 1998 and participated in the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) of the US State Department in 2006. He received the Ben Gurion Prize from Israel in 2011 and the K. Subrahmanyam Prize for Strategic Studies in 2015 from the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA). Since 2024, he has hosted Point Blank, Hindustan Times' weekly YouTube show on global geopolitics.Read More

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