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Shashank Mattoo: India is planning to lay down structures to improve the coordination of the India-France-Australia trilateral grouping, ensure regular meetings and sharpen its agenda, according to two persons aware of the matter.
This comes as India looks to build robust small groupings of like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific to advance its economic and security agenda in the region.
The India-France-Australia trilateral began in 2020, with a meeting of foreign secretaries of the three nations. A trilateral ministerial dialogue followed in 2021 on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting. ‘Focal Points’ meetings’ of senior officials were held in 2021 and 2023. A row between France and Australia, due to the latter’s decision to cancel a submarine deal with Paris, caused the grouping to lose some steam.
The second focal points meeting in 2023 focused on maritime security, environmental issues and multilateral affairs.
“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,” according to India’s foreign ministry.
The persons cited above stated that the focus will be on regularizing meetings of the grouping in order to ensure concrete deliverables. Plans to hold foreign ministers’ meetings last year on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) session in New York fell through, they added.
“During the Second Australia-India 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue in November 2023, Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Hon Richard Marles MP and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Penny Wong, along with their counterparts, the Minister of Defence of India, Shri Rajnath Singh, and Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. S. Jaishankar committed to continuing cooperation through the Australia-India-France trilateral grouping. Ministers announced the grouping would help to coordinate on our shared interests in the Indian Ocean and to address common challenges, share insights and have open discussions on issues including maritime security, the environment and climate change,” the spokesperson of the Australian High Commission in New Delhi said in response to a query from Mint.
Queries mailed to India’s foreign ministry were not immediately answered.
India and France also have a similar trilateral with the United Arab Emirates, launched in 2023 during a telephonic call between the foreign ministers of the three countries.
“During this call, the three sides agreed that the trilateral initiative will serve as a forum to promote the design and execution of cooperation projects in the fields of energy, with a focus on solar and nuclear energy, as well as in the fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region. For this purpose, the three countries will explore the possibility of working with the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to pursue concrete, actionable projects on clean energy, the environment, and biodiversity,” the UAE Foreign Ministry said in a statement at the time.
The trilateral with France and UAE is expected to focus more on business and trade, while the focus of the one with France and Australia will be on maritime security. As geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific escalates, India has relied increasingly on groupings of a few like-minded countries, including the Quad, to push its economic and security agenda.
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Published: 08 Mar 2024, 07:58 PM IST
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