India, France & Australia to cooperate on maritime security and safety in Indo-Pacific region

India, France, and Australia have agreed to resume cooperation on Maritime Security and Safety in the Indo-Pacific region in addition to strengthening multilateral engagement. This was decided during the Second India-France-Australia Trilateral Focal Points Meeting held on Tuesday (June 20, 2023).

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the three sides expressed satisfaction at the resumption of the trilateral dialogue.

They agreed to resume cooperation on the established pillars of the mechanism: * Maritime Security and Safety including HADR * Marine Global Commons and Environment * Multilateral Engagement.

"They identified key projects to be initiated in the coming months and agreed to explore the possibility of holding a meeting of the Foreign Ministers on the sidelines of the UNGA," the MEA said.

The Indian side was led by Joint Secretary (Europe West) Sandeep Chakravorty and Joint Secretary (Oceania) Paramita Tripathi while the French side was led by Director (Asia and Oceania) Benoît Guidée and the Australian side was led by First Assistant Secretary (North and South Asia Division) Gary Cowan.

France, India and Australia held the first focal points meeting in their trilateral dialogue on February 24, 2021. As Indo-Pacific nations, the participants sought to examine the progress of tangible projects in the region to ensure its security, prosperity and sustainable development.

This was followed by a virtual meeting of Foreign Ministers of the three countries at the Raisina Dialogue in April 2021.

An in-person India-France-Australia Trilateral Foreign Ministers Meeting was held in September 2022. It was attended by Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong.

"Concluded the India-Australia-France Foreign Ministers’ trilateral. Useful in promoting cooperation in Indo-Pacific issues as well as at the global level. Thank FMs @MinColonna and @SenatorWong for their commitment," EAM Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting.

India, France, and Australia had their first set of trilateral talks at the Foreign Secretary level in September 2020. The discussions centered around economic and geostrategic challenges and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.