India, France hold talks on deepening bilateral ties

New Delhi: India and France Saturday held discussions on deepening bilateral strategic partnership through cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, defence, space and civil nuclear energy sectors.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean Yves Le Drian discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral cooperation.

"We had very fruitful talks. We closely looked at all the aspects of our mutual ties. We are taking our cooperation forward in the Indo-Pacific region, which will not only benefit these two countries but also other countries in the region," she told reporters.

Noting that the foundation of India and France relations is based on "mutual trust", Swaraj said the two countries are looking to strengthen their ties in various sectors.

"Our defence relations are historic and we have been involved in a number of exchanges in the form of training and joint exercises," she said. The External Affairs minister also reiterated the resolve of the two countries to jointly fight against terrorism.

"We both are also working in strengthening our ties in space sector. We both are also leading fight against climate change," she said.

"Last year, our bilateral trade was worth 9.62 billion euro, if we both have to reach the trade of 15 million euro by 2022 we both will have to work towards further strengthening our trade relations," she said.

There will also be an exchange of 10,000 students between the two countries by 2020, Swaraj said.

Her French counterpart Le Drian said the two leaders reviewed the status of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) project in Jaitapur, Maharashtra and adopted an action plan to guide our work for the coming months so as to advance as efficiently as possible towards the final decision for building this power plant.