INTRODUCTION
India & France share a traditionally and historically close relation with each other, and boast of friendly relations with each other. Due to concurrence between the two countries on a myriad of regional and global issues, the countries share a degree of convergence of thoughts, ideas, and beliefs shared by very few countries. Between the two countries exists vibrant bilateral bonds of cultural and educational linkages coupled with a growing people-to-people connect. Indian diaspora also has a sizable presence in France and in its overseas territories, and contribute immensely in the building of the French economy.
In this article, Team YLCC brings you a detailed overview of India-France relations in 2022. Read on!
BILATERAL RELATIONS
France’s business as well as industry sectors, as well as its economic capacities have resonated with India’s developmental goals and aspirations. In line of the same, linkages have been formed and strengthened in capital and technological aspects between the two nations. France has also contributed by way of investments in Indian companies, and India during the boom of the ‘Make in India’ movement. This has also been coupled with dynamic high-level exchanges between the leaders at the highest levels.
Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi was specially invited to France at the behest of President Emmanuel Macron for the prestigious G-7 summit wherein India stood as one of the “Goodwill” partners, in August 2019. Furthermore, the visit involved high-level discussions on an array of issues and resulted in a landmark joint-statement and agreement for collaboration in the emergent domains of Cyber-Security, Digital Technologies, and signing of 4 Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) between the two countries.
On the other hand, from March 10 to March 12, 2018, President Macron and Mrs. Brigitte Macron visited India on a state visit, including stops in New Delhi, Agra, Mirzapur, and Varanasi. President Macron and Prime Minister Modi held private, delegation-level discussions after their ceremonial welcome in New Delhi. Following the discussions, 14 agreements were made, one of which was for the reciprocal provision of logistical support between the respective armed forces. A “Joint Strategic Vision of India-France Cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region” and an “India-France Joint Vision for Space Cooperation” were also released in addition to the joint statement from the visit. other nations’ delegations that had gathered in New Delhi for the International Solar Alliance Founding Conference.
COLLABORATION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC
Recently, India-France reviewed and comprehensively examined increasing bilateral relations amongst them in the Indo-Pacific region. It can be widely seen as a moment of leverage for both India-France, in the realm of defense trade and diplomatic relations. Both nations presented a unified stance and stand, with regards to having a greater voice and say in the affairs of the Indo-Pacific region. This is significant as it can help counter the growing influence of China in dominating the affairs of the Indo-Pacific region. This development comes in the backdrop of France’s resentment over the creation of AUKUS, by Australia, United Kingdom, and United States.
BENEFITS FROM COLLABORATION
Both India and France stand to benefit from increasing and deepened alliances and collaboration with each other. Some of the broad aspects wherein concurrence will be of benefit are as follows-
In the aspect of alignment of outlooks, India stands to immensely benefit by deepening ties with France, which shares ideals of multilateralism, non-military deterrence based policy, coupled with a pluralistic outlook. Collaboration in these domains is of benefit to both the countries due to the shared ideals. Furthermore, it is also imperative that the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) is also a matter of interest to France and any collaboration and cooperation in the Indian Ocean region, and the Indo-Pacific Region is of great benefit to align the interest of India and France, in the long-run.
In the aspect of defense modernization, India and France can provide each other with markets to procure extremely critical military technologies as India is trying to be self reliant in the domain of military-equipment and machines, and France can provide interim support, by way of being a seller of military-equipment, till the time India achieves self-reliance in defense technologies. A pertinent example in this regard would be the purchase of Rafale jets, produced by French Aerospace Company, Dassault Aviation, and this was India’s biggest acquisition of foreign defence technology in the last two decades.
Further, India and France have been cooperating and collaborating in space activities, and India can further partner with France in developing maritime domain awareness and cooperation on satellite navigation & human exploration of space. A pertinent development in this regard is the India-France agreement on Space Security Dialogue, wherein India and France, collaborated and colluded on various aspects regarding space.
In addition to this, India is a vast market for Defense Sales and France stands to benefit from India’s procurement of military defense supplies by way of increased Foreign Exchange. Furthermore, India and France have also collaborated at the International Solar Alliance (ISA) and spearheaded various social impact related initiatives together, which accommodate the voices of both developed and developing countries. Thus, it can be seen that India and France share a mutually accommodative policy and take into consideration each other’s interests at various forums at an International Level.
OTHER AREAS OF COOPERATION
With ISRO and the French Space Agency (CNES) conducting numerous cooperative research programs and satellite launches, India and France have a long history of cooperation in the sphere of space dating back more than 50 years.
While President Macron was in India, India and France released a “Joint Vision for Space Cooperation.” The Joint Vision outlines the specific locations where future cooperation in this area will take place. The third cooperative satellite mission between ISRO and CNES, called TRISHNA, will be carried out. It will monitor water use and eco-system stress while also housing a French instrument on India’s OCEANSAT-3 satellite. Scientific information is provided by the jointly built Megha-Tropiques satellite, which monitors clouds and water vapour across the tropical zone. Thus, such developments bestows India with a prominent position in the space industry, as a leader in global governance and space cooperation.
CONCLUSION
Around 109,000 Indians, including NRIs, are thought to reside in mainland France; they primarily come from the French enclaves of Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, Mahe, and Chandernagore. The French overseas territories of Reunion Island (280,000), Guadeloupe (60,000), Martinique (6,000), and Saint Martin all have sizable populations of people of Indian descent (300). In France, there are more than 50 communal organisations dedicated to India. Major communities that make up the people with Indian ancestry include from Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.
Further, there are reportedly over 10,000 Indian students studying in France. Approximately 3,000 new Indian students travel to France each year, attracted by the availability of English-medium courses in French higher education institutions, particularly in the field of business management. India and France must leverage the presence of the Indian Diaspora to the level best, in order to increase cultural ties between the countries, and provide for a fruitful and dynamic relationship between the two countries in the longer-run, which will be of immense benefit for long-term partnerships, strategic dialogue and economic trade between the two countries.
It is imperative that the good-ties between the two countries must be strengthened further in order to crease out any conflict that might occur in the future. The future stands strong for both the countries, and both shall continue to collaborate in a myriad of aspects, in the long run.
YLCC would like to thank its Content Team for their valuable insights in this article.
