France wants to work with India in Indo-Pacific

France wants to work with India in Indo-Pacific

Context

• France and India have a “special and specific” interest in the Indian Ocean, and would prefer to conduct their exchanges across the Indo-Pacific bilaterally.

Growing cooperation

• The cooperation is growing in the Indian Ocean, where both India and France have focal positions.
• Both the countries are in a process of forming a defence and security partnership in the Indo-Pacific.
• This new cooperation will deal in counter-terrorism, defence hardware, nuclear energy, and space cooperation during the upcoming visit of Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to India.

Large territory

• France is the only western country with large territory in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) including the Reunion Islands, spanning about two million square kilometres of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
• France has a population of one million French Citizens in the region, including about 30% of Indian origin.
• The French navy maintains bases in the UAE, Djibouti as well as in Reunion, with a total of 20,000 forces permanently based in the IOR.
• France is India’s oldest strategic partner, and has conducted India’s first international ‘Varuna’ joint naval exercises since 1983.