France keen to partner with India in defence sector

New Delhi: Emmanuel Lenain, French Ambassador to India, said that no country other than France would supply India with as much advanced technology as France. India and France have such faith in each other. India wants to be self-reliant in the defence sector and France is ready to provide the necessary assistance to India to develop the industrial base required for this.

The two countries must share a strong bond of mutual trust for defence cooperation and partnership because no country can commit to defence cooperation with another country for ten, twenty or thirty years without absolute trust. Stating that this trust has been established between India and France, the French Ambassador claimed that this cooperation between the two countries would complement each other’s strategic autonomy.

India is promoting the domestic production of arms and defence equipment. France has the necessary technology and everything needed to build an industrial base for this purpose. The French Ambassador pointed out that India can get benefit from it. In 2016, India signed an agreement to purchase Rafale fighter jets from France.

India has since started moves to broaden its defence cooperation with France. However, intense competition exists between the United States, France, Britain and Russia to increase defence cooperation with India. In such a scenario, it has not been easy for India to decide on the defence cooperation front because it will likely affect India’s bilateral cooperation with other countries.

In such a situation, India has announced that preference will be given to countries willing to transfer advanced technology and manufacture arms and defence equipment in India. Besides this, India has warned that the same policy will be implemented in the future development and production of weapons and defence equipment. Ambassador Emmanuel Lenin explained that India’s decision is for strategic autonomy on the defence front and France is ready for this.

Meanwhile, India will spend around $130 billion on its defence forces over the next five years. Given this, countries and companies leading in the production of defence materials and weapons are looking at India as a massive market and are making desperate efforts to establish cooperation with India. France is one of the leading countries among them. France has turned its attention to India, especially after Australia cancelled its decision to buy submarines from France and went ahead with the same deal with the United States. The interests of India and France in the Indo-Pacific region are also complementary to each other. In such a situation, it is significant that the French Ambassador indicates that their country made a defence partnership with India its highest priority.