French foreign minister Catherine Colonna will visit India on Tuesday to review the bilateral relationship with the country and focus on ways to enhance cooperation in key areas such as trade, defence and climate action.
Colonna will be in the country from September 13 to 15.
During her stay in New Delhi, Colonna will discuss bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest with external affairs minister S Jaishankar on September 14.
As part of the visit, Colonna will travel to Mumbai for engagements with industry leaders and site visits on September 15.
On the same day, she will virtually participate in the discussion on the theme “France and India in the Indo-Pacific: An essential partnership in challenging times”.
India and France have a long-standing strategic partnership that has been strengthened by regular high-level consultations and growing convergences in various areas, the external affairs ministry said in a statement on Colonna’s visit.
The visit will “pave the way for further strengthening of the partnership across trade, defence, climate, migration and mobility, education and health sectors”, the statement added.
Strategic cooperation between India and France, especially in defence, security and counter-terrorism, has grown significantly in recent years.
France has worked closely with India to sanction Pakistan-based terrorist groups and individuals at multilateral bodies such as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
The two countries are also closely cooperating on initiatives focused on the Indo-Pacific region, where France has some 1.5million citizens on island territories and 93% of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or 9 million sqkm.
A French Air and Space Force contingent, including three Rafale combat jets, recently made a technical stopover at the India Air Force (IAF) station at Sulur during a long-distance deployment to the Indo-Pacific, reflecting the close defence ties between the two sides.
The French Air and Space Force was conducting a long-range mission in the Indo-Pacific, codenamed “Pégase 22”.
The first stage of the mission aimed to demonstrate France’s capacity for long-distance air power projection by deploying an air force contingent from metropolitan France to the French territory of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean in less than 72 hours.