New Delhi: Visiting French President Emmanuel Macron held talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, after which the two countries signed 14 pacts, including one on “reciprocal logistics support between their armed forces” that will provide access for warships of either side to each other’s ports.
The pact — to “facilitate the reciprocal provision of logistics support, supplies and services between the armed forces of the two countries during authorised port visits, joint exercises, joint training, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief efforts” — was described by Mr Modi as a “golden step in the history of our close defence cooperation”.
He also described France as one of India’s most trusted defence partners, adding that “from land to sky there is no such topic where we are not working together with each other”.
Reflecting a growing depth in defence ties, India and France inked the strategic pact providing for the use of each other’s military facilities including opening naval bases to warships, an agreement that comes amid China’s growing military expansionism in the Indo-Pacific region.
With India already acquiring 36 French Rafale state-of-the-art fighter aircraft and the two countries expressing satisfaction over the progress in the matter, news agencies cited officials as saying that the French side pushed for the procurement of another batch of 36 Rafale fighters by India during a meeting between defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and her French counterpart Florence Parly.
