The visit of French Minister of Defence Mr Yves Le Drianis to India from 25-27 July, 2013 underlines emergence of France as the third pole of defence cooperation with India. While in larger engagements, Russia and the US precede France, in defence technical cooperation France comes third after Russia and Israel with multifarious defence deals including the Scorpene, upgradation of Mirage 2000 and the upcoming Rafale MMRCA contract.
Expansion of relations is also evident with the visit of the French President to India recently and New Delhi pledging aid and assistance to Mali, reportedly based on request by Paris where they are involved in peace and stability operations. That India’s present foreign secretary Mr Ranjan Mathai was an ambassador in Paris before he took over the coveted appointment may be a fortunate coincidence.
The Joint Statement issued after the Defence Talks between India and France underlined the larger relationship with the two defence ministers Mr A K Antony and Drianis discussing regional and international security challenges of mutual interest. France retains the territories of La Réunion, Mayotte and the French Southern and Antarctic Territories. France has a naval base in Indian Ocean. Thus defence cooperation with India makes sense for the French in more ways than one.
India and France also have a very deep training cooperation. As the Joint Statement highlighted the conduct of upcoming bilateral exercise ‘Shakti’ in September 2013 in France between both Armies, Exercise ‘Varuna’ off the coast of India and also the next Air Force exercise ‘Garuda’ to be held during the first half of 2014 are markers of the same. With regard to training exchanges, the Ministers have noted with satisfaction that officers of the Indian and French Armed Forces have been attending courses in each other’s institutions, including at the French War College in Paris and the National Defence College and Defence Services Staff College in India. It was agreed that such exchanges were beneficial to the building of relations between the Armed Forces of both sides and should continue said the joint statement.
There was a focus on cooperation in high technology areas involving joint research and development and transfer of technology. The Ministers have tasked the High Committee on Defence Cooperation (HCDC), which is scheduled to meet in France in October 2013, to follow up the above points and to finalise practical measures to expand and deepen the bilateral partnership in defence.
The French Defence Minister also conveyed that on the 100th anniversary of World War I, France is planning various projects to pay tribute to Indian soldiers who were killed in France during the War. The Indian side appreciated the same. The Ministers also exchanged views on issues relating to UN peace keeping operations and maritime security. The French Defence Minister also presented France’s new White Paper on Defence and National Security, as per the press release.
In his talk in the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, the French Minister of Defence Mr Yves Le Drianis elaborated the basic tenets of the White Paper which emphasises on strategic autonomy. French focus is however in the Middle East and West Africa, thus how far this will gel with India’s priorities in South Asia and Indian Ocean region remains to be seen?
While media reports indicated that the visit of the French Defence Minister was mainly to push finalising the MMRCA deal the joint statement has given a different overall spin that was more than anticipated. With India being the only country other than France opting for Rafale and the competition continuing to raise questions on the deal, the emphasis on underlining early finalisation of the same is but natural. While this issue was not elaborated in the Joint Statement it would have been deliberated upon and some pressure exercised by the French Defence Minister to finalise the contract. How much relief the French Defence Minister got from the visit on this account however remains to be seen?
This Article first appeared on Security Risks and is reposted here under a Creative Commons license.