India, France, UAE hold trilateral talk to magnify maritime security
Recently, India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and France have organized their first trilateral meeting, the purpose of this meeting was to explore possible areas of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.
These areas include: maritime security, humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR), blue economy, regional connectivity, cooperation in multilateral fora, energy and food security, startups etc.
India-UAE-France Trilateral Forum and its importance
- It will promote cooperation in the Indo-Pacific under the Trilateral Framework. The increase in China’s military presence in the region has also raised international concern. Thus, this collaboration becomes important.
- It will enhance strategic autonomy in the western Indian Ocean region or the Arabian Sea to ensure energy and regional security.
- Both the United Arab Emirates and India are countries in the Western Indian Ocean region.
- At the same time, two overseas territories of France – Mayotte and Réunion are present in this region. As such, it is also a local power of the region. France also has inter-service bases in the UAE and Djibouti.
- This is critical to India’s global role as well as the success of India’s Act East Policy, Look West Policy, Security and Development for All in the Region (SAGAR) initiative, etc.
- It also provides an opportunity to work towards the shared goals of a ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’.
Other initiatives for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region
- BRICS, Quad, India-Japan-Australia Forum, India-Australia-France Forum (this will be revived under the new government in Australia) and India-Indonesia-Australia Forum (likely).
- India and the United Arab Emirates are also members of the I2U2 The other member countries of this forum are Israel and the United States.
Source – The Hindu
