France Look East Policy Has Played a Key Role in Cementing India-France Ties
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France as a guest of honour to witness the military parade of their national day recently brings decades of friendship between France and India into focus.
In the history of any two nations, economic relations played a pivotal role in shaping the bilateral ties between them apart from of course political necessities.
In the case of India and France, several issues have shaped the bilateral ties between the two nations apart from trade and defence deals that have made international headlines.
Down the course of history, the France’s ‘Look East Policy’ has played a key role in cementing India-France ties. Before French president Jacques Chirac pushed forward the relations, Edouard Balladur who was prime minister of France between 1993 and 1995, under president François Mitterrand did indicate his interest in Asia due to its potential for economic growth and as an area of influence. Once Chirac was elected president for two terms from 1995 to 2007, he pursued his abiding interest in the region and India benefitted from his vision and the focussed approach of France. His tenure had a deep impact on the bilateral ties between the two countries which continues to this day.
With more than 1,000 French companies already present in India, France is a key source of FDI for India. According to the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade statistics, France is the 11th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of 10.49 billion dollars from April 2000 to December 2022. This amounts to 1.68 per cent of the total FDI inflows into India. France is, therefore, an important trade and investment partner for India and it has been a steady and growing partnership. The French Embassy in India estimates that French companies in India have a minimum stock portfolio of 19 billion dollars and a turnover of over 20 billion dollars. All this augurs well for both nations.
Modi’s visit marks the 25th anniversary of the strategic partnership between the two countries, a fact that has been noted in their joint statement which calls for continued cooperation between the two countries on Defence that has already seen the delivery of 36 Rafale jets to India; Space, civil nuclear energy, critical technology including artificial intelligence and supercomputing among other areas; civil aviation, research, culture, ecology, education as well as student mobility with the target of welcoming 30,000 Indian students in France by 2030. Two MoUs have also been signed between the Institut Polytechnique de Paris (IPP), and IIT Delhi and IIT Madras.
The focus from 1990s onwards in India, on the economic aspects of a bilateral relationship has helped the cause of Indo-French bilateral relations. This kind of pragmatic approach to bilateral relations provides greater access to markets, technologies, including technology transfers, investments from other countries and setting up of joint ventures with partner firms from countries like France with whom we have a strong bilateral relationship.
It must be recalled that there was a smooth flow in bilateral relations between France and India, even when there was a transition from the Congress-led United Front Government in the 1990s to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led, National Democratic (NDA) alliance. The changes, however, that happened in domestic policy, especially the conduct of nuclear tests, can be considered more radical under the NDA rule, when late Vajpayee took over as prime minister of India.
The year 1998 was also a turning point when two big events shaped the destiny of the two nations and cemented their ties. The first was that Chirac came as chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade to mark India’s 50th year as an independent state. It was a symbolic hand of friendship from India to France and it was expected to follow through in greater gains in bilateral ties between the two nations. Chirac arrived with the largest business delegation ever thereby demonstrating political will to strengthen ties with India. The visit paved the way for Indo-French strategic partnership that is still active till today. The second event was in May 1998 when the Vajpayee government conducted two nuclear tests.
France did not join other members of G8, European Union and the UN Security Council in their condemnation of the tests. Neither did it join Japan nor the US in imposing sanctions on India. This led to further strengthening of relations between the two countries.
Historically, India and France have been committed to a multi-polar world. After the Cold War, the world moved away from a bipolar to a uni-polar world, where the US as the sole hyper-power dominated the world stage fairly often and for long as, more or less, a self-appointed global policeman. France has been a major proponent of a multi-polar world. France’s desire was to have a multi-polar world and to have India as one of the poles. Although, the Ukraine war may have put pressure on that ideal, India to a large extent has maintained its neutrality. Being a poor country, it has bought cheap Russian oil out of necessity. Prime Minister Modi has reiterated time and again that wars over territory should be considered a thing of the past and has consistently asked Russia and Ukraine to resolve their issues on the negotiating table. France, despite its condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has remained neutral over India’s stand. Although there has been domestic criticism in France over its stand on India, it has not altered India-France relationship which has remained on an even keel.
A multipolar world as opposed to a unipolar or a bipolar world would ensure a more equitable global power structure. In a multipolar scenario, power is not concentrated in the hands of one or two nations around the globe. In fact, it is much more diversely distributed across the world where every nation, small or big, has a say in the destiny and the events that shape the world.
The author has done her doctoral thesis on Indo-French bilateral relations and is currently a guest faculty at IIT, Madras.