France to join India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative - IPOI; sending carrier to naval-ex

In a bilateral development, France has agreed to join India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI). The initiative was proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in November 2019 during the East Asia summit. The move comes as French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is on a three-day visit to India. As scheduled, the French minister will be meeting top leaders including PM Modi, S Jaishankar, and also visit the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) headquarters in Bengaluru.

India and France continue to enhance the engagements in several sectors including defence, and maritime. The India-France Varuna naval exercise that is all set to take place from April 26th will have a French aircraft carrier, Charles de Gaulle, take part. The aircraft is the first French nuclear-powered surface vessel. The exercise will take place off the coast of Oman (Western Indian Ocean). India also joined France's initiative La Pérouse exercises earlier this month. The exercise witnessed the participation of Quad countries- India, US, Australia, and Japan. 

What is the IPOI - Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative?

The initiative by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is to enhance seven key pillars which include trade connectivity, maritime transport, maritime security, maritime ecology, maritime resources, capacity building and resource sharing, disaster risk cutback and management, science, technology, and academic partnership. 

India has been trying to connect with several countries under IPOI. Countries from the region are invited to participate in the initiative. IPOI stresses a partnership with like-minded countries for maritime enhancement. 

France's Foreign Minister in India

For his three-day visit, several diplomatic discussions are scheduled between Jean-Yves Le Drian and leaders like PM Narendra Modi, EAM Jaishankar, and I&B and Environment minister Prakash Javedekar. The topics of discussion include new joint endeavors, COVID-19 vaccine availability, regional and international issues, and emerging security challenges in space. On Tuesday a meeting between Drian and his counterpart S Jaishankar had taken place where they discussed the post-COVID-19 agenda through close partnership. India's foreign minister had described the meeting as productive in his tweet after the meeting. 

This is the first crucial and important visit from France since the outbreak of COVID-19. Currently India is facing a tough challenge in curbing the growing surge of the virus. 

Image Credit: AP/PTI composite