Modi, Macron to shape India-France cooperation in Indo-Pacific

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron will this week give shape to a new framework for bilateral strategic cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

Macron is set to commence his four-day visit to India on Friday. He will meet President Ram Nath Kovind, apart from holding bilateral talks with the Prime Minister. He will also join Modi and other foreign leaders at the founding ceremony of the International Solar Alliance in New Delhi on Sunday.

Modi and Macron will explore ways to step up defence and security partnership in Indo-Pacific and are likely to endorse a framework for bilateral cooperation in the region, sources told DH.

France is keen to play a role in the regional security architecture in Indo-Pacific, but is reluctant to join the quad, which India, United States, Japan and Australia re-launched in November 2017 to counter hegemonic aspirations of China in the region. Though Japan extended an invitation to France and the United Kingdom to join the quad, none of them have so far shown interest in joining the plurilateral initiative.

Paris, however, has substantial geopolitical interests in western Indian Ocean and southern Pacific, with a large number of its military personnel deployed in the region. France has territorial control over Réunion and Mayotte islands in the Indian Ocean and New Caledonia and French Polynesia in the Pacific. While over 60% of its vast Exclusive Economic Zone is in the Pacific, over 20% is in the Indian Ocean. Djibouti on the Horn of Africa has a base of French Army.

Bilateral defence

France was not interested in joining the quad as it was not keen on earning the ire of China. It, however, did not have any hesitation to step up bilateral defence and security cooperation with India, with particular focus on Indo-Pacific.

Macron is likely to join Modi to reaffirm the commitment of France and India to a "free, open, transparent, inclusive and rules-based architecture in Indo-Pacific".

Modi's meeting with the French President is likely to focus on securing the sea-lanes for trade and communications, countering the threat of piracy and maritime terrorism, maritime domain awareness as well as fostering trade and economic links in Indo-Pacific, the sources said.