India – France Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) were held on 05 March 2024 at New Delhi, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary (FS) Shri Vinay Kwatra and Secretary-General (SG) of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ms. Anne-Marie Descôtes.
During the meeting, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the progress made in various facets of bilateral cooperation, as outlined in the ambitious India France Horizon 2047 Roadmap, adopted during Prime Minister’s historic visit to France as Guest of Honour at the French National Day on 14 July 2023.
FOC was preceded by the 2nd meeting of Strategic Space Dialogue, co-chaired by FS and SG, and India-France ‘Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Dialogue’, on 04 March 2024. During the visit, Ms. Descôtes also paid a courtesy call on the External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar.
The discussions encompassed key areas of bilateral cooperation including defence, civil nuclear energy, space, cyber and digital, AI, Science and Tech, UNSC reforms and multilateral cooperation, blue economy, institutional dialogue mechanisms, and initiatives fostering people-to-people exchanges and cultural ties. In addition, the dialogue extended to global and regional affairs, notably on Indo-Pacific, climate action, energy transition, health, trilateral and plurilateral forms of cooperation, and key challenges including situation in Gaza and Red Sea and Russia-Ukraine conflict.
FOC is a pivotal bilateral mechanism that provides cohesiveness to all the existing India-France exchanges. Overall, this meeting provided an opportunity to review actions across multifaceted ties between India and France, fostering deeper understanding and collaboration on shared priorities and challenges.