New Delhi: Visiting French defence minister Florence Parly on Friday met her Indian counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman and discussed ways to further boost military ties, co-developing and supply of military platforms besides paving the ground for the forthcoming India visit of President Emmanuel Macron to New Delhi in December. The talks included deliberation of the regional security situation, enhancing maritime cooperation, transfer of critical technology for various defence projects and ways to ramp up overall strategic ties, an official said.
Parly, who is here on a two-day visit, is also likely to meet PM Narendra Modi. Parly is likely to push for a follow on order of additional Rafale fighter jets, after the delivery of 36 jets under a Rs 58,000 crore deal finalised last year. The French embassy had said in a statement on Thursday that Parly’s visit is aimed at strengthening all aspects of France’s “fast developing” defence cooperation with India, its foremost Asian strategic partner.
French major Dassault Aviation will invest over 100 million euros in a joint venture with Reliance Aerospace to manufacture aircraft components as part of the ‘offset obligation’ connected to the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets from France. The Dassault-Reliance joint venture represents the largest ever foreign direct investment in the defence sector in India, the companies said in a joint statement. The foundation laying ceremony of the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited manufacturing facility was held on Friday at the Dhirubhai Ambani Aerospace Park in Mihan SEZ near Nagpur airport.
