Top French official meets Jaishankar

"Glad to receive French Secretary-General Franois Delattre. Good discussions on our bilateral cooperation, Indo-Pacific and global developments," External Affairs Minister Jaishankar tweeted on Tuesday after holding talks with Franois Delattre, the Secretary-General of France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.

New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday held talks with Franois Delattre, the Secretary-General of France's Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, focusing on bilateral issues as well as the situation in the Indo-Pacific.

Delattre is on an official visit to India from December 20 to 22.

The visit comes close on the heels of the trip to India by French Defence Minister Florence Parly.

"Glad to receive French Secretary-General Franois Delattre. Good discussions on our bilateral cooperation, Indo-Pacific and global developments," Jaishankar tweeted.

Earlier, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla held extensive talks with Delattre exploring the potential for cooperation in sectors such as defence and security, space, cybersecurity and the digital economy.

"Both sides took stock of the bilateral relationship and discussed the potential for cooperation in sectors such as defence and security, space, cybersecurity and the digital economy, blue economy, education and people-to-people contacts, energy, health and climate change," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

Shringla and Delattre also held discussions on a number of regional and global issues of mutual interest, including cooperation in the European Union in view of the forthcoming French presidency of the bloc, the situation in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific.

The ambassadors of India and France joined the talks.

In the meeting, the two sides also reaffirmed their shared commitment to a multipolar world and faith in multilateralism, the MEA said in a statement.
India's trade with France has witnessed a steady rise in the last decade reaching USD 10.75 billion in 2020.

The MEA said it is estimated that the bilateral trade between the two countries in 2021 has reached USD 8.85 billion despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

"To tap the full potential of bilateral trade and economic relations, both sides reiterated their commitment to restarting negotiations on the India-EU Free Trade Agreement," the MEA said.

It said France has emerged as a major source of foreign direct investment for India with more than 1,000 French establishments already present in the country.

France is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of USD 9.86 billion from April 2000 to June 2021 which represents 1.80 per cent of the total FDI inflows into India, it said.

Delattre is visiting Mumbai from December 21-22.

PTI