French President announces 3-pronged security partnership with India for Southern Indian Ocean

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a three-pronged security
partnership with India in the southern Indian Ocean in the backdrop of China’s
growing ambitions in the region.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced a three-pronged security
partnership with India in the southern Indian Ocean in the backdrop of China’s
growing ambitions in the region.

Macron stated that India and France were sharing
the analysis of joint maritime security in the southern Indian Ocean, working
on a joint maritime surveillance in the region and looking at possible
deployment of an Indian Navy maritime patrol vessel in Reunion Island from the
first quarter of 2020.

In an indirect reference to China’s designs on the
western and southern Indian Ocean Region, the French President said in his
speech, “We must protect the Great Indo-Pacific space for no hegemony to reign.
A security presence in the region is essential for building this freedom in
sovereignty and for establishing a common agenda.”

“Together with India, we have been working with PM
Modi on a shared ocean vision and strengthened our operational cooperation for
stability and security in the region it’s an unprecedented movement, a very profound change. A few years ago we
had never planned to engage with our Indian friends here in the same way as the
operations we did recently. This is the reality of this strategic agenda that
we share,” he said.

Macron said, “This common security agenda in the
region is an agenda of maritime surveillance, protection of our marine areas,
construction of a joint agenda to avoid any form of domminance or intrusion and it is noted
that the France is the 2nd largest maritime power in the world.”

India, in partnership with France, is keen to focus
on port development, blue economy, trade, connectivity, tourism, skill
development, hospitality and healthcare in this resource-rich region, said
people aware of the matter. India is also eyeing gas deposits in the Mozambique
Channel near Vanilla Islands.

The joint statement issued after Modi’s meeting
with Macron on August 22 had indicated enhancement in the Indo-French partnership in the western
Indian Ocean.

“Based on a shared commitment to maintaining the
freedom of navigation, particularly in the Indo-Pacific zone, maritime security
cooperation between France and India is a domain of excellence in their
strategic partnership,” said the joint statement. surveillance in the region and
looking at possible deployment of an Indian Navy maritime patrol vessel in
Reunion Island from the first quarter of 2020.

Together with India, we have been working with PM
Modi on a shared ocean vision and strengthened our operational cooperation for
stability and security in the region,it’s an unprecedented movement, a very profound change. A few years ago we
had never planned to engage with our Indian friends here in the same way as the
operations we did recently. This is the reality of this strategic agenda that
we share,” he said.