Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the global impact of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis in terms of global food and commodity shortages, and pledged to work together to address some of these issues.
According to an official release from the Ministry of External Affairs, the two leaders held wide-ranging discussions on all key areas of bilateral engagement, including defence, space, civil nuclear cooperation, bilateral trade and investment, and people-to-people linkages, in Paris late on Wednesday. Modi has invited Macron to visit India as soon as possible.
"The two leaders discussed the regional and global implications of the Ukrainian conflict and agreed to step up coordination on the matter." "France and India express deep concern about the current deterioration of global food security and nutrition, which has already been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly in developing countries," a joint statement issued following the bilateral meeting stated.
The two countries are committed to enabling a coordinated, multilateral response to the risk of an aggravated food crisis as a result of the Ukrainian conflict, including through initiatives such as the Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission (FARM), which aims to ensure well-functioning markets, solidarity, and long-term resilience, it added.
Modi and Macron also reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the India-EU strategic partnership and expressed a desire to collaborate closely in the implementation of the India-EU connectivity partnership and the decisions reached at the India-EU leaders' meeting in Porto in May 2021.
"They welcomed the recent launch of the India-EU trade and technology council, which will foster high-level coordination on strategic aspects of the trade, technology, and security, as well as the restart of negotiations on EU-India agreements on trade, investment, and geographical indicators," according to the joint statement. After a three-day trip to Europe, Modi will return to New Delhi on Friday morning. He travelled to Germany, Denmark, and France.
