India, France to boost strategic ties in Indian Ocean

India and France will give a boost to bilateral strategic cooperation in the Indian Ocean during French President Emmanuel Jean-Michel Macron's visit to New Delhi early next year.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will visit New Delhi from Thursday to give shape to the new framework for India-France bilateral cooperation in the Indian Ocean. The new framework will be launched by Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi later.

Alexandre Ziegler, French Ambassador to India, on Wednesday said that India and France were exploring ways to step up defence and security cooperation in Indo-Pacific, particularly Indian Ocean.

He said the French Foreign Minister will meet External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar.