New Delhi: Defence Minister Rajanth Singh and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu held the fourth India-France Annual Defence Dialogue here on Monday and the two leaders shared the commitment to work together on enhancing cooperation in bilateral, regional and multilateral fora, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific region.
Singh said the discussions were "warm and fruitful."
Singh and Lecornu co-chaired the annual defence dialogue. This is Lecornu's first visit to India as Minister of Armed Forces of the French Republic.
Singh held the "Fourth India-France Annual Defence Dialogue with Minister of Armed Forces of the French Republic Sebastien Lecornu in New Delhi today. The meeting was held in a very cordial atmosphere. A wide range of bilateral, regional, defence and defence industrial cooperation issues were discussed in the dialogue," the defence ministry here said in a statement. They also discussed means to "strengthen maritime cooperation" and increase the scope and complexity of bilateral exercises, it said.
Lecornu shared a tweet in French on the Dialogue.
Ambassador of France to India Emmanuel Lenain shared Lecornu's tweet with an English translation of the French minister's tweet. "France is India's long-standing, loyal & reliable partner. Our coop is rich & multifaceted. This 4th Defence dialogue which I co-chaired with Min @RajnathSingh , showed the convergence of responses to our common challenges in the #IndoPacific. - Minister @SebLecornu," the envoy tweeted.
The two ministers also discussed ways to bolster defence industrial cooperation with focus on 'Make in India', the defence ministry said in the statement.
They reviewed the ongoing military-to-military cooperation which has increased substantially in the recent years.
The two leaders noted with satisfaction that India and France recently held their bilateral Air Exercise 'Garuda' at Air Force Station, Jodhpur successfully, the statement said.
"During the dialogue, one of the key areas of discussion was defence industrial cooperation with a focus on 'Make in India'. Future collaborations and potential co-production opportunities were discussed.