- With a signal to China, Indo-Pacific was the top focus at the first India-France-Australia trilateral dialogue, held recently.
- Maritime security and maintaining resilient global supply chains, in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, was also discussed during the meeting.
- France and Australia are India’s key partners in the Indo-Pacific region.
- The meeting provided a unique opportunity to build upon the progress that the three countries have achieved bilaterally in recent years.
- Shared Prime Minister Vision for the Indo-Pacific, articulated at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in 2018 as a means of promoting the concept of Security and Growth for All in the Region – or SAGAR.
- Talked about the possibility of
- “enhancing maritime security cooperation” between the three countries,
- including in the areas of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief,
- maritime domain awareness, mutual logistics support,
- Capacity-building of friendly countries in the Indo-Pacific region.
- Cooperation on marine global commons — blue economy, marine biodiversity and environmental challenges such as marine pollution — was on the agenda of the meeting.
- The Indian side underlined its interest in collaborating on sustainable fisheries in the Indian Ocean, technologies for harvesting of Deep Ocean Resources, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion.
- Development cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, initiatives such as
- the International Solar Alliance and
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, and
- The need for a reformed multilateralism also formed part of the dialogue.
- The MEA also stated that the three sides agreed to hold the dialogue on an annual basis.
