India, France boost security, energy ties

India and France on Tuesday upgraded their relations to a special global strategic partnership and took several steps to deepen ties in defence, technology, critical minerals and energy, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Emmanuel Macron held up the bilateral partnership as a force of global stability and progress in a turbulent era.

- Rezaul H Laskar

Modi met Macron, who is on a three-day visit to India, in Mumbai for talks that focused on bilateral cooperation in a wide range of areas and measures to protect the strategic autonomy of both countries amid turbulence and uncertainty on the global stage. The leaders emphasised the need for a multipolar world and opposed hegemony during a joint media interaction.

Among the key outcomes of the meeting were measures to bolster security ties, including the renewal of a defence cooperation agreement, inauguration of an assembly line for H125 helicopters in Karnataka, creation of a joint venture between Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and France's Safran to produce Hammer missiles, and reciprocal deployment of officers at Indian Army and French Land Forces establishments.

"France is one of India's oldest strategic partners...Based on this trust and shared vision, today we are establishing our relationship as a special global strategic partnership," Modi said, speaking in Hindi. "This partnership is not just strategic.

In today's turbulent era, it is a partnership of global stability and global progress." "The India-France partnership knows no boundaries; it can reach from deep oceans to the tallest mountain," he added.

Macron pointed to a "remarkable acceleration" of ties in response to the "changing international order", and said both sides do not want to be subjected to "any form of hegemony".