BLITZ BUREAU
THE Focal Points meeting of India, France and the United Arab emirates (UAE), held on July 10, discussed the progress in trilateral cooperation as per the Joint Roadmap agreed upon in February last year. “India-France-UAE Trilateral Focal Points meeting held virtually,” Randhir Jaiswal, official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), posted on X.
“Discussions covered progress in trilateral cooperation as per the Joint Roadmap agreed in Feb 2023, including in areas of economy, infrastructure, innovation, energy, environment, culture, education & P2P exchanges,” the post added.
The three countries also reaffirmed their commitment to further build constructive ties through concrete initiatives in areas of mutual interest and agreed to meet at regular intervals, as per a work plan, to review the progress in all synergetic areas, a MEA statement said.
The Indian side at the meeting was led by Piyush Srivastava, Joint Secretary (Europe West) and Aseem R Mahajan, Joint Secretary (Gulf), Ministry of External Affairs. The French delegation was led by Timothée Truelle, Head of South Asia Division in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and the UAE side was headed by His Excellency Saeed Mubarak Al-Hajeri, Assistant Minister for Economic and Trade Affairs, at the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first trilateral dialogue was held in February 2023, which was attended by Indian Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra.
Energy collaboration
The three foreign ministers had met for the first time in a trilateral format in September 2022 on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The key areas of the trilateral cooperation include energy collaboration, particularly in solar and nuclear sectors, climate change mitigation, biodiversity protection, and sustainable development projects. The three countries planned to explore the possibility of working with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to pursue concrete, actionable projects on clean energy, the environment, and biodiversity.
They have also committed to aligning their economic, technological, and social policies with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
The three countries have also pledged support to initiatives such as the UAE-led Mangrove Alliance for Climate and the India-France-led IndoPacific Parks Partnership.
