Paris, 13 September 2022 (TDI): Foreign Minister of France Catherine Colonna has chosen India for her first bilateral visit to Asia to deepen the strategic partnership between the states and discuss global challenges. She will visit India on 15 September 2022 for a 2-day visit.
French Foreign Minister @MinColonna has chosen India for her first bilateral visit in Asia. She is on her way for a 2-day visit to deepen our strategic partnership & chart joint solutions to global challenges. Read more⤵️https://t.co/mwdwP2PsQO
— Emmanuel Lenain 🇫🇷🇪🇺 (@FranceinIndia) September 13, 2022
Proceedings of the Visit
Minister Colonna’s visit will be an effort to advance, strengthen and expand the Indo-French strategic partnership.
Moreover, the visit will also highlight France’s steadfast commitment to the Indo-Pacific region and its willingness to cooperate with India to discover global problems with shared solutions.
Minister Colonna will meet with Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, on September 14th.
Minister Colonna will emphasize France’s conviction that India and France’s trust-based strategic cooperation is the strongest asset to continue enhancing strategic autonomy and preserve a multipolar rules-based international order.
The Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar, and Minister Colonna will undertake extensive bilateral consultations and will discuss a wide range of issues.
The issues will include bilateral strategic cooperation, regional and international problems of mutual concern, and collaboration on UN Security Council matters, which France is currently chairing.
In addition, Minister Colonna also will meet with Shri Ajit Doval, the Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser. Both will discuss issues relating to regional and international security.
Furthermore, they will also discuss enhanced defense cooperation and the implementation of France’s counterterrorism cooperation with India.
Minister Colonna will also engage with students from Lady Shri Ram College for Women, highlighting the value of social interactions in Indo-French relations.
The French Minister will outline the opportunities for student exchange between France and India. She will also outline France’s initiatives to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality under its feminist foreign policy.
Moreover, Minister Colonna will participate in the Indo-French Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (IFCCI) annual general meeting. She will urge French businesses to give money to India to advance India’s goals for ecological transformation and fortify the Indo-French alliance for the environment.
Minister Colonna will deliver a speech at an event organized by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). The topic of the speech will be “France and India in the Indo-Pacific: an essential partnership in challenging times”
It will be an opportunity to emphasize the strategic alliance between France and India that has played in advancing a promising agenda for security and development in the Indo-Pacific region.
Lastly, The French Minister will visit Vagsheer which is the most contemporary Kalvari-class submarine built in India for the Indian Navy.
This visit will highlight France’s commitment to India in the defense industry and to Indo-French naval cooperation as a provider of security in the Indo-Pacific.
