India and France will work towards establishment of an Indo-Pacific Trilateral Development Cooperation Fund to support India-based innovators and start-ups.

This was decided by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his French counterpart Catherine Colonna in their bilateral meeting on Wednesday.

“As part of their cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, both Ministers agreed to work towards the establishment of an Indo-Pacific Trilateral Development Cooperation Fund to support India-based innovators and start-ups in taking their innovations to third countries, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, while also exploring opportunities to undertake development projects under the framework of the International Solar Alliance and its STAR-C project to which France contributed one million euros,” as per a statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Both Ministers also expressed their interest in resuming cooperation under the India-France-Australia Trilateral mechanism. “The ministers looked forward to the trilateral ministerial meeting to be held in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA, later this month,” the release said.

Advancing defence ties

The French Minister, who is on a three-day official visit to India, stressed on her country’s interest in advancing cooperation in the field of defence. “No other country is ready to share its most advanced defence technologies with India as much as France. And we are proud to be one of your very first defence partners, not only in industrial terms but also in operational ones,” she said in her opening remarks at a joint press conference.

Our ambitions are also very high in the field of space, and we will soon initiate a new dialogue on security issues in space, she said, adding that cybersecurity cooperation between the two nations was also progressing well and our counter-terrorism cooperation remained very close. “We are already doing a great deal together on low-carbon energy. Our Jaitapur civil nuclear project is progressing well,” she said. 

Both Ministers also expressed confidence that resumption of negotiations on the India-EU trade and investment agreement and the agreement on geographical indicators will boost bilateral trade significantly. “The Indian side appreciated France’s efforts during its Presidency of the EU Council to ensure the restart of the trade negotiations. Both sides agreed that early conclusion of the agreements would further accelerate the steady rise in bilateral trade which reached $9.87 billion during the period April 2021 – January 2022,” it added. 

Both also welcomed the conclusion of new projects in the area of bilateral development cooperation, including the Credit Facility Agreement between the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance and the French Development Agency (Agence française de développement or AFD) for the drinking water project in Chandigarh.

The support provided by Proparco, AFD’s private sector development subsidiary, and others European partners, to Sahyadri Farms, Maharashtra, the first farmer-led Indian company, was also discussed.

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