India, France and UAE have agreed to launch a trilateral cooperation initiative. The foreign ministers of India, France and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) held a telephonic conversation on Saturday and discussed efforts to further promote joint development and co-production in the defence sector. This agreement comes amid ongoing tension with China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). They also agreed to work together in the fields of solar and nuclear energy, climate change and biodiversity.
Highlights
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna and UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan discussed cooperation in areas such as education, trade, maritime transport and green energy during the talks.
In the episode, on Saturday, there was a phone conversation between the three ministers to prepare a roadmap for implementing this initiative. According to a joint statement, the three parties determined throughout the telephone conversation that the Trilateral Cooperation Initiative would act as a framework to encourage the creation and execution of collaborative projects in the energy sector, with a particular emphasis on solar and nuclear energy. At the same time, it will also cooperate in the fight against climate change and the conservation of biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region. In addition, the nations have decided to work together to fight contagious diseases.
Jaishankar tweeted that he discussed cooperation in education, trade, maritime, culture and green energy for a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.
Trilateral Cooperation in Defense Sector
In a common statement released following the discussions between the foreign ministers of the three nations, it was believed that defence is the dimension in which the cooperation of the three countries should increase. To achieve this, cooperative development and co-production in the defence sector would be encouraged. Along with this, they also discussed plans for cooperation and training between the defence forces of the three countries.
Meetings and conferences for technical cooperation
Increasing trilateral collaboration in the technological sector has also been agreed upon. The three nations will improve collaboration between academic and scientific institutions to achieve this. To increase the likelihood of such collaboration, high-level technological events like Vivatech, Bengaluru Tech Summit, and GITEX will be conducted, as well as trilateral conferences and meetings.
Cooperation project in the field of energy
Through the Trilateral Collaboration Initiative, the three nations will improve their energy-related cooperation. They claimed to work together to finish energy-related projects while concentrating on solar and nuclear energy. According to the joint declaration, initiatives including trilateral cooperation in the fields of solar and nuclear energy would be developed. In addition, a collaborative effort will be created to address the issues of climate change and biodiversity conservation, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.
To achieve this objective, the three sides will explore working with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to advance concrete, actionable projects on clean energy, the environment and biodiversity, the statement said. The trilateral effort will act as a springboard for further collaboration on sustainable initiatives between the development agencies of the three nations. At the same time, the three countries agreed that they will try to ensure that their respective economic, technological and social policies are in line with the objectives of the Paris Climate Agreement.
Cooperation in dealing with the epidemic
India, France and the UAE will also share mutual experiences on infectious diseases and ways to combat emerging threats of future pandemics. For this, cooperation in multilateral organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund and Unitaid will be encouraged. Apart from this, the three countries will adopt the ‘One Health’ approach and work on concrete ways to implement it. It will also support the development of local capabilities in biomedical innovation and production within developing countries.
Promote cultural cooperation
All three countries have acknowledged that social and human connectivity has an important role in strengthening the partnership. With this in mind, the Trilateral Initiative will be used as a platform to promote cultural cooperation, including a number of joint projects related to heritage promotion and conservation.
Apart from this, the issues agreed upon are:
1. Promoting cooperation in food security and economy (with a view to the International Year of Millets 2023)
2. Cooperation in reducing single-use plastic pollution
3. Cooperation in combating the challenge of desertification
Several tripartite events to be organized in 2023
In order to materialize these efforts, a series of trilateral events will be organized under India’s presidency of the G20 and COP-28 hosted by the United Arab Emirates in 2023. The three countries will expand trilateral cooperation through initiatives such as the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, led by the United Arab Emirates, as well as the Indo-Pacific Parks Partnership, led by India and France. The three countries have also expressed their willingness to cooperate in the field of the circular economy under India’s Mission LiFE.
In the last few years, India’s bilateral relations with France and the United Arab Emirates have strengthened.
Earlier, the three foreign ministers had met for the first time under the trilateral format on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September last year. The three sides then agreed to establish a formal trilateral cooperation initiative with the aim of expanding cooperation in various areas of mutual interest to promote international stability and prosperity. Also discussed furthering the constructive and cooperative relations between the three countries.
Prior to the meeting in New York, on July 28 last year, the three countries held a joint secretary-level meeting to enhance cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. In it, the three parties exchanged their views on the Indo-Pacific region and tried to explore the possible areas of trilateral cooperation. These included areas such as maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, blue economy, regional connectivity, cooperation in multilateral fora, energy and food security, innovation and startups, and supply chain resilience. From the standpoint of fostering more collaboration, it was also thought that cultural connectedness and inter-citizen engagement were crucial.
Importance of the Trilateral Cooperation Initiative
In the Indo-Pacific area, India, France, and the United Arab Emirates all share strategic interests. In view of the growing supremacy of China in the Indo-Pacific region, increasing coordination between India, France and UAE become extremely important. There are many such areas among them, in which the cooperation of the three countries can help in fulfilling mutual interests as well.
For the first time in 2022, the UAE participated in the annual Varuna maritime exercise between India and France. Given the convergence of strategic interests and strong bilateral ties, the India-France-UAE trilateral alliance is likely to emerge as a strong pillar shaping the strategic dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region in the times to come.
This tripartite framework on the lines of the Quad (India, Japan, US, and Australia) and the I2U2 (India, Israel, UAE, and the US) can prove to be a strong platform for meeting shared agendas. This type of triangular alliance is also proving effective in terms of new and contemporary methods of diplomacy.
