Sri Lanka situation comes up in Modi-Macron phone talks
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a telephonic conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron.
The leaders also discussed the challenges in the Indo-Pacific region as well as situation in Sri Lanka, according to French President’s office.
During the conversation, PM Modi conveyed India’s solidarity with France in dealing with the devastating wild-fire in a pine-forest in Southwestern France last week.
Speaking of his discussion with the French President, PM Modi said: “Spoke to my friend President Emmanuel Macron, Conveyed India’s solidarity with France in dealing with the devastating wildfires. We discussed ongoing bilateral cooperation under the India-France Strategic Partnership, and other issues of global and regional significance.”
On India-France Strategic Partnership, the two leaders expressed satisfaction at the depth and strength the Partnership has acquired in recent years.
They agreed to continue working closely together to expand the relationship to new areas of cooperation.
The high-level talks focused on ongoing bilateral initiatives including defence cooperation projects and cooperation in nuclear energy between India and France.
During the conversation, the top leaders also discussed the tumultuous geo-political challenges and its destabilizing consequences for the rest of the world, including those related to food security.
Earlier, during PM Modi’s visit to Paris, India and France expressed deep concern over current food insecurity in the world exacerbated in light of the ongoing conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The leaders during the talks emphasized the collaborated need to alleviate the suffering caused due to food-crisis.
According to the statement released by the French President’s office, ‘in this regard, the two leaders underlined the relevance of the framework offered by the FARM initiative, to guarantee transparency in agricultural markets and prevent speculative behavior, to come to the aid of the populations most at risk of food insecurity, and to strengthen the agriculture sovereignty of countries by further developing their local production.”