Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “strengthening” India’s ties with Germany, Denmark and France as the PM returned to Delhi after concluding his three-day visit to three European countries.
“PM Modi’s three-day Europe visit has strengthened India’s friendship with Germany, Denmark and France. His visit will further scale up economic linkages, cultural and defence cooperation with these countries. I congratulate PM on his fruitful and successful visit,” Singh said.
PM Modi’s flight landed in New Delhi on time and he deboarded the aircraft around 11:45am.
Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron held extensive discussions on a wide range of bilateral and global issues, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the situation in the Indo-Pacific and terrorism, as they agreed on an ambitious agenda for the next phase of the India-France Strategic Partnership.
PM Modi, who arrived in France from Denmark on the final leg of his three-nation European tour, on Wednesday night held one-on-one and delegation-level talks with Macron, who was re-elected to the top post over a week back.
Modi and Macron held discussions on the entire range of bilateral issues, including cooperation in defence, space, blue economy, civil nuclear and people-to-people ties, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a press release.
“Delighted, as always, to meet my friend President @EmmanuelMacron. We talked at length about bilateral as well as global issues. India and France are proud developmental partners with our partnership spread across different sectors,” Modi tweeted in English and French languages along with a photograph of him and Macron hugging each other.
The two leaders also took stock of the regional and global security outlook and discussed ways to work together in making the India- France Strategic Partnership a force for global good. The Prime Minister’s visit to France displayed the strong friendship and goodwill not only between the two countries but also between the two leaders, the release said.
Tweeting a photograph of his meeting with Modi, Macron said, “Tonight, with @NarendraModi, we discussed the different ongoing international crises as well as our strategic partnership. We also talked about food security issues and the FARM initiative, in which India will play a key role.” Prime Minister Modi invited President Macron to visit India at the earliest opportunity, the MEA release said.
According to a joint press statement issued after the meeting, India and France — in a post-pandemic world, facing global geopolitical challenges — reaffirmed their commitment to prepare for the future together by further deepening their cooperation, expanding it in new domains to meet emerging challenges and broadening their international partnership. 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 organisations, it said.
“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 to international law, respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, freedom of navigation and a region free from coercion, tensions and conflicts,” the statement noted, amidst China’s aggressive moves in the strategically important region. The two leaders also expressed serious concern at the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
“They unequivocally condemned civilian deaths in Ukraine and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities to bring parties together to promote dialogue and diplomacy to find an immediate end to the suffering of the people,” the statement said. Both countries underlined the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states. The two leaders discussed the regional and global implications of the conflict in Ukraine and agreed to intensify coordination on the issue, it said.
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