India-France

📝 India-France


◽ Technology: Space


🔸India and France have a rich history of cooperation in the field of space going back to fifty years with ISRO and the French Space Agency, CNES carrying on various joint research programmes and launch of satellites. A joint stamp was released to commemorate fifty years of bilateral space cooperation during the visit of PM Modi to France in April 2015.


🔸M/s Antrix and M/s Airbus Defence and Space also have signed an MoA for commercial cooperation in June 2016.


🔸GSAT-18 was launched from Arianespace, Kourou on 5 October 2016 which was the twentieth ISRO satellite launched by Arianespace. GSAT-17 was launched from Kourou on 28 June 2017.


🔸During the visit of President Hollande to India in January 2016, ISRO and CNES signed an Implementing Arrangement (IA) for the joint development of a thermal infrared satellite mission; payload of French Argos-IV instrument on India’s Oceansat-3 satellite and a Letter of Intent for cooperation in planetary exploration.

📝 India-France


◽Security and Defence Relations


🔸 Regular exchange of visits at the level of Services Chiefs takes place.


🔸The three services also have regular defence exercises; viz. Exercise Shakti (Army); Exercise Varuna (Navy); Exercise Garuda (Air Force.


🔸The Varuna exercise has been taking place since 1983.


🔸 Apart from service-level staff talks, the two sides have a High Committee on Defence Cooperation (HCDC) which meets annually at the level of Defence Secretary and the French Director General of the Directorate of International Relations and Strategy (DGRIS).


🔸 Apart from this, various staff courses, training programmes etc. also regularly take place.