INDIA-FRANCE

Relevance: Mains: G.S paper II: International Relations

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Recent Indian Prime Minister’s visit to France for a bilateral summit marked a further consolidation of the strong Indo-French strategic ties.

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• The discussions broadly focussed on reaffirming France and India as the key strategic and likeminded partners, strengthening of the defence partnership — including future defence acquisitions, progress on set up of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, convergent, strategic and political priorities in the Indo-Pacific.
• In the digital space, the two countries have adopted a cybersecurity and digital technology road map.

A Cooperation Agreement was signed between the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing and Atos for developing cooperation in fields of quantum computing, Artificial Intelligence and exascale supercomputing. Areas of cooperation

• Maritime security cooperation/ Indo-Pacific region: o Conduct of bilateral naval Exercise Varuna and exchange of information in the area of maritime surveillance o Heightened cooperation at multilateral bodies:

For e.g. India support to France’s candidacy at the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA);

France’s chairing of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) in 2020, will be an opportunity to closely associate India with France’s priorities.

French military bases in Djibouti, Abu Dhabi, and Reunion Island can be a force multiplier for India, which itself is looking to build naval facilities in Oman (Duqm), Mauritius and Seychelles (Assumption Island).

• Space o 2015 MoU signed between the French (CNES) and Indian (ISRO) space agencies enriched cooperation projects.

It led to the finalizing of a joint mission of India’s Oceansat-3 satellite hosting France’s Argos system for climate monitoring and tracking, scheduled to be launched in 2019.

It has also resulted in the third jointly developed satellite, Trishna, for thermal infrared imaging.

France is also considering contributing to India’s space agency, ISRO’s, upcoming inter-planetary missions to Mars and Venus.

The ambitious Joint Vision for Space Cooperation signed in 2018 paved the way for coordinating space and maritime collaborations and enabled the commencement of work on a constellation of microsatellites for maritime surveillance.

• Political/foreign relations: France has emerged as India’s one of the most reliable partner on issues relating to terrorism and Kashmir. o France supports India’s candidacy for a seat as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and supported multilateral export control regimes (accession to MTCR in June 2016, Wassenaar Arrangement in 2017, the Australia Group in January 2018).
• Defence relations: France and its defence industry actively contribute to the “Make in India” programme in the defence sector.

The first conventional submarine, Scorpene, which started being built in India in 2008 with transfer of technology and support from DCNS, began sea trials in 2015, and the second in January 2017. An agreement on India’s acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets was concluded in September 2016.

• Counter terrorism: Terror strikes in France in recent years by home-grown terrorists have enlarged the scope of counter-terrorism cooperation to include cyber security and discussions on radicalisation.
• Bilateral Trade in Goods: In 2018, India-France bilateral trade stood at € 11.52 billion (+7.60%) as compared to the corresponding period the previous year. India’s exports to France were valued at € 5.99 billion, up 11.77% during this period with a rise in exports.

French Investments in India: France has emerged as a major source of FDI for India. France is the 10th largest foreign investor in India. France is focusing on Chandigarh, Nagpur and Puducherry under the flagship programme of Smart Cities.

• Nuclear field: In the nuclear field, an agreement was signed about a decade ago for building six EPR nuclear power reactors with a total capacity of 9.6 GW for which negotiations have been ongoing between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) and Areva, and now EdF.

The agreement on the industrial way forward between NPCIL and EdF affirms that work at Jaitapur will commence before the end of 2018.

• Educational relations: Potentially, the most significant was the focus on youth and student exchanges. Currently about 2,500 Indians go to France annually to pursue higher education, compared to more than 250,000 from China.
• Tourism: A target of a million Indian tourists and 335,000 French tourists has been set for 2020.
• Combating climate change: France and India actively strengthened their cooperation under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Together, they spearhead the implementation of this Agreement.

They jointly launched the International Solar Alliance. Conclusion This is a time for nations like India and France to take the lead and shape the narratives as well as the emerging institutional frameworks.

The visit gives immense possibilities which exist in Indo-French bilateral partnership and there are growing signs that the political leadership in both countries are keen to exploit them.

Recent developments

• Both countries signed Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, enables Indian naval warships to now seek access to the French naval base in Djibouti to refuel for an operational turnaround to return to Indian shores.
• Both countries have planned the launch of 8-10 satellites as part of a “constellation” for maritime surveillance in the Indian Ocean region.
• CNES concluded an agreement with ISRO for training programmes and bioastronautics for a human space flight- (Gaganyaan) by 2022.
• The Indian Railway Station Development Corporation (IRSDC) entered into a Tripartite Agreement with French National Railways (SNCF) & AFD, a French development agency in order to support Railway Station Development Program in India.