Paris/New Delhi, Jan 21 (UNI) India and France held Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) on Monday in Paris, co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary-General of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs Anne-Marie Descôtes.

Foreign Secretary also called-on Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France and Emmanuel Bonne, Diplomatic Advisor to the President of French Republic, a statement said.

During the meeting, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the progress made in various facets of bilateral cooperation, as outlined in the India-France Horizon 2047 Roadmap.

The discussions encompassed key areas of bilateral cooperation including defence, civil nuclear energy, space, cyber and digital, AI, institutional dialogue mechanisms, and initiatives fostering people-to-people exchanges and cultural ties. Both sides agreed to expand bilateral partnership in the areas of high-end technology sectors.

In addition, the dialogue extended to global and regional issues such as cooperation in environment, climate change and health, cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, trilateral dialogues, joint development projects in third countries and ongoing international issues and crises such as those concerning the situation in the Middle East and Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Foreign Secretary and Secretary General also co-chaired the meeting of India-France Special Task Force on Civil Nuclear Energy.

The MEA spokesperson posted on X:

“Foreign Secy @VikramMisri called-on FM Jean-Noël Barrot @jnbarrot

of France in Paris.

“Discussions included key areas of bilateral cooperation and the ongoing global challenges. They also held discussions on the upcoming AI Action Summit.”

“India-France Foreign Office Consultations co-chaired by Foreign Secy @VikramMisri & Secretary General Anne-Marie Descôtes @amdescotes were held in Paris.

“Wide ranging discussions on entire gamut of bilateral relations took place focussing on areas like defence, civil nuclear energy, AI, S&T, people-to-people exchanges, & high-level exchanges between the two countries.”

UNI RN