EAM Jaishankar congratulates newly-appointed French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna

The Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr S Jaishankar congratulated Catherine Colonna on her appointment as the new Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. Taking to Twitter, on Saturday, the External Affairs Minister (EAM) further expressed his willingness to work with Colonna in the future. He also acknowledged and thanked former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian for his contributions to the India-France relationship. 

Jaishankar said in a tweet, “Congratulate @AmbColonna on your appointment as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France. Look forward to working with you. Appreciate the contribution that my friend @JY_LeDrian made to our partnership.” 

Following his re-election, French President Emmanuel Macron has selected Catherine Colonna, France's envoy to the United Kingdom, as his next foreign affairs and Europe minister. According to Elysee Palace General Secretary Alexis Kohler, along with Colonna, France has named Sebastien Lecornu as the new defence minister. 

The Elysée further published the entire list of ministers on Friday, scooping up individuals from the right and introducing some fresh faces, such as French historian Pap Ndiaye, who will serve as Minister of Education, Politico reported.  

In addition to this, Jean-Yves Le Drian was also honoured by Catherine Colonna. In a tweet post, she said, “I want to pay tribute @JY_LeDrian, a very great minister, whose decisive commitment I have been able to measure in my diplomatic functions in recent years in the service of our country and of Europe. Thank you, Minister.” 

Jaishankar traveled to France for a three-day trip

In February, Jaishankar traveled to France for a three-day trip, where he met with former French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and reaffirmed their shared commitment to multilateralism and a ruled-based system. Both parties committed to working together in the United Nations Security Council on areas of common importance. 

Both ministers applauded the close collaboration between India and France during the COVID-19 outbreak, according to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), and agreed to strengthen the Strategic Partnership, especially in the areas of trade and investments, defence and security, health, education, technology and development, energy and climate change, ANI reported.  

The two Ministers also decided to maintain and improve their collaboration in the field of sports and to soon complete a Joint Declaration of Intent in the Area of Sports in order to facilitate people-to-people communication. They even agreed to deepen the long-standing collaboration between India's and France's relevant agencies on public administration and administrative reforms. 

(Image: AP)