Agencies
The India-UAE-France ministerial trilateral held in New York on Monday focused on enhancing partnership in defence and security, with special focus on Rafale fighter jets, global commons, innovation and people-to-people ties.
Rafale fighter jets are the common element in trilateral strategic partnership. India and UAE have both purchased Rafale fighters from France. ET has learnt that the three countries are keen to form a trilateral Rafale forum and India will play a key role in the forum.
While India is a key strategic partner for France in South Asia, UAE is similarly a key partner for France in West Asia. India and UAE partnership have been transformed in the last few years and strategic heft have taken ties to a new level.
The India-UAE-France trilateral is a new and more contemporary way of doing diplomacy with a focus on “active exchange” of ideas between strategic partners and UNSC members. The three countries, while different, are strategic partners to one another and discussions focused on areas of commonalities and on working out how to specify and concretise commonalities going forward, according to people familiar with the partnership.
The three countries are very comfortable with each other and there are many areas where potentially they could be working in a more coordinated way.
