In order to strengthen France’s developing defence cooperation with India and in preparation for the upcoming state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron, France’s armed forces minister, Florence Parly was on her first official visit to India starting October 27-28.
Post her arrival, Parly paid a floral tribute at Amar Jawan Jyoti and received a guard of honour at the ministry of defence. Later, the French minister proceeded for bilateral consultation with her Indian counterpart, Nirmala Sitharaman.
The two ministers held talks ranging from defence operational cooperation, in particular on maritime security, joint exercises of the armed forces, counter-terrorism, to industrial and technological partnership under the ‘Make in India’ initiative. Both the countries also agreed to actively explore additional measures to facilitate operational level interactions between their respective armed forces.