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Maritime security, nuclear deal to top agenda of Macron’s India talks

NEW DELHI: Maritime security and nuclear cooperation will be the staple items on the table when French President Emmanuel Macron holds discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India + this weekend.

While the “Quad” comprising India, Japan, Australia and the US is pitched as the new political counterpoint to China in the India-Pacific space, India and France have found much to be close about in the Indian Ocean. The two countries have realised that the way forward is closer bilateral cooperation, rather than “rushing” into a multilateral format, significant at a time when pluri-laterals or mini-laterals find favour.

India and France are also hoping to get an agreement between NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) and EDF (of France) on six nuclear reactors that could lead to greater indigenisation of components and services for the reactors.

“We have shared concerns in the Indian Ocean. We are more ambitious, more pragmatic and more coherent,” a source said. This is a new element in the France-India bilateral relationship, which will require much closer work. During Macron’s visit, both countries are expected to sign agreements that will allow India logistics access to French military bases in the Indian Ocean. By itself, this could become a force multiplier for India, especially since New Delhi, despite clear interests in the Indian Ocean, has been a laggard in securing its interests.

France remains the largest resident power in the Indian Ocean with the largest amount of real estate, including about 11 million sq km of exclusive economic zone particularly in the Mozambique channel with over 10 islands as part of French overseas territories. For France’s military bases in Djibouti, Abu Dhabi and Reunion Islands, India regards it as an attractive strategic partner here.

Speaking to journalists, French ambassador Alexander Ziegler had said, “We are looking for structured and operational cooperation in defence and security in the Indian Ocean region.” He attributed the bilateral nature of the relationship to the high level of trust between France and India.

At some point, the two countries might open this cooperation in a broader format, inviting perhaps Australia, with whom France enjoys a similar relationship, given French assets in the South Pacific. With India and UAE deepening their own defence and security relationship, Abu Dhabi could also become a future partner.
Carnegie India, in a recent report on India-Francecooperation in the Indian Ocean, said India should support France’s full membership of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) while France could help India enter the Indian Ocean Commission. But the report, by Darshana Baruah and C Raja Mohan also sounds a cautionary note. “For France, the concern is not only about New Delhi’s foreign policy and partnership with Western powers and its grand strategy and ideology, but also the nature of daily decision-making in New Delhi, which France, like so many of India’s interlocutors on defence policy, finds frustrating. The well-known complexity of civil-military relations in India, where the dominance of the civilian bureaucracy is total, has been a major obstacle to the reform and rejuvenation of India’s defence engagement,” it said.
Source : timesofindia