NEW DELHI: India and France on Sunday decided to strengthen defence cooperation through partnerships in the design, development, testing and manufacture of advanced defence technologies and platforms, and expanding production in India.
The decisions were arrived during bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We discussed a series of topics and look forward to ensuring India-France relations scale new heights of progress,’’ said Modi, who had nine bilateral meetings on Sunday. The other bilateral meetings Modi had were with Canada, Germany, South Korea, Turkey, Comoros and South Korea. India and Saudi Arabia will have a bilateral meeting on Monday.
During his talks with Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Modi raised concerns about the anti-India activities of extremist elements in Canada. The extremists are promoting secessionism and inciting violence against Indian diplomats, damaging diplomatic premises, and threatening the Indian community in Canada. Trudeau said Canada believes in freedom of expression and peaceful protests but doesn’t condone violence.
During his talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Prime Minister Modi spoke about enhancing trade, and continuous collaboration on clean energy. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed India’s G20 Presidency and complimented PM Modi on the Delhi Declaration.