In view of growing assertiveness of China, the Indo-Pacific region has become the focal point of world powers

India, France and Australia on Wednesday held senior officials’ meeting and discussed a wide range of issues, including the Indo-Pacific region.

As per the Ministry of External Affairs, during the meeting the three sides took stock of the progress made on the outcomes of the Foreign Secretary level Trilateral Dialogue held in September 2020, including Maritime Security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR), Blue Economy, Protection of Marine Global Commons, Combating Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported (IUU) Fishing and Cooperation in Multilateral Fora.

They also discussed the next steps to be taken for furthering trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

At the senior officials’ meeting while the Indian side was led by Sandeep Chakravorty, Joint Secretary (Europe West), the French side was led by Bertrand Lortholary, Director (Asia and Oceania) and the Australian side was led by Gary Cowan, First Assistant Secretary (North and South Asia Division) and John Geering, First Assistant Secretary (Europe and Latin America Division).

The 1st India-France-Australia trilateral meet was held at the Foreign Secretary-level in September 2020.

In the inaugural edition of the dialogue, Foreign Secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Secretary-General of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Francois Delattre, and Secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances Adamson had jointly chaired the meeting.

The outcome oriented meeting was held with the objective of building on the strong bilateral relations that the three countries share with each other and synergizing their respective strengths to ensure a peaceful, secure, prosperous and rules-based Indo-Pacific region.