NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) India and France, during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron, agreed to establish a strategic dialogue on space issues.
"Building on a great tradition of over 60 years of technical and scientific space cooperation, and in order to address the contemporary challenges that have arisen in space, in particular maintaining a secure access to space for all, India and France have agreed on setting up a bilateral strategic dialogue on space issues," according to a joint statement following the meeting published by India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
The two countries also agreed about defense cooperation.
India and France expressed concern over aggravation of food security.
"India and France express deep concern about the current aggravation of global food security and nutrition, already impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and especially in developing countries They are committed to enabling a coordinated, multilateral response to address the risk of aggravated food crisis because of the conflict in Ukraine, including through initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM)," the statement said.
India and France pledged to develop relations with Indo-Pacific states.
"India and France have built one of the premier strategic partnerships for advancing peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. They share a vision of a free, open and rules-based Indo-Pacific region, based on commitment international law, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, freedom of navigation and a region free from coercion, tensions and conflicts," according to the joint statement.
"Indo-France Indo-Pacific partnership encompasses defense and security, trade, investment, connectivity, health and sustainability. Besides bilateral cooperation, India and France will continue to develop new partnerships in various formats with like-minded countries in the region and within regional organizations," it said.
The two countries said they are concerned about the situation in Afghanistan.
"On Afghanistan, India and France expressed serious concern on the humanitarian situation and violation of human rights and reiterated strong support for a peaceful, secure and stable Afghanistan, emphasizing respect for its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and non-interference in its internal affairs," according to the joint statement.
