• The foreign ministers of India, France and the UAE have agreed to establish a formal trilateral cooperation initiative, with the aim of expanding cooperation in various fields of mutual interest and to further build upon the constructive and collaborative ties that exist between the three countries.

• The plan was finalised during a phone conversation among Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, his French counterpart Catherine Colonna and UAE’s Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

• The three foreign ministers met on September 19, 2022 for the first time in a trilateral format on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.

• There has been an upswing in India’s bilateral engagement with France as well as the UAE.

• Such plurilateral meetings signify a new and more contemporary way of doing diplomacy, experts said, citing the example of Quad (Australia, India, Japan, the US), I2U2 (India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States), trilateral between India, France and Australia as forums emerging as effective ways of finding a common agenda.

• Typically, groupings were regional and contiguous in nature such as SAARC, BIMSTEC, ASEAN, and the EU with the exception of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

• Diplomacy is now changing and there are countries which are not neighbours or next to each other in a region but which have certain common interests and are working with each other.

The roadmap for trilateral initiative

• 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 trilateral initiative will serve as a platform to expand cooperation between the three countries’ development agencies on sustainable projects.

• It was agreed that the three countries will seek to ensure greater alignment of their respective economic, technological, and social policies with the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

• Defence is an area of close cooperation between the three countries. Efforts will be undertaken to further promote compatibility, and joint development and co-production, whilst seeking out avenues for further collaboration and training between the three countries’ defence forces.

• As countries at the very forefront of technological innovation, the development of trilateral cooperation between relevant academic and research institutions and efforts to promote co-innovation projects, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship will be encouraged.

• In recognition of the critical role social and human bonds play in their constructive partnership, India, France, and the UAE will ensure that this trilateral initiative will be leveraged as a platform to promote cultural cooperation, through a range of joint projects, including heritage promotion and protection.

• A range of trilateral events will be organised in the framework of the Indian Presidency of the G20 and the UAE’s hosting of COP-28 in 2023, respectively. 

• The three countries agreed to expand their cooperation through initiatives such as the Mangrove Alliance for Climate led by the UAE and the Indo-Pacific Parks Partnership led by India and France. 

• It was agreed that the three countries should seek to focus on key issues such as single-use plastic pollution, desertification, and food security in the context of the International Year of Millets-2023. 

• The three sides also underlined their keen desire to cooperate in the field of the circular economy under the aegis of India’s Mission LiFE.

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