On Wednesday, India and France agreed to establish an Indo-Pacific trilateral framework to advance development projects, expanded strategic cooperation and vowed to work closely on pressing global challenges, like the food crisis caused by the Ukraine war.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said Russia is waging a destructive war of aggression on the territory of a sovereign state after wide-ranging talks with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. She emphasized that France is determined to work with India to tackle the war’s “terrible consequences.”
She said many challenges have emerged in the Indo-Pacific because of China; France and India are concerned about this as well, since they recognize the role China plays and want to avoid any imbalance.
Separate trilaterals with Australia and the United Arab Emirates were also decided by India and France in the Indo-Pacific. A level of solidarity and trust like that between France and India is “rare and precious” today, said Colonna.
In regard to the global food crisis, she suggested that an initiative could be proposed at the G20 summit in Indonesia to ensure that the most vulnerable countries don’t remain too vulnerable.
Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, she said, “When the core principles of the international rules-based order are flouted anywhere, they are weakened everywhere, including in the Indo-Pacific, where respect for international law has been undermined for some time now. India knows this better than anyone else.”
