India, France must work together to stabilise global politics: Jaishankar

With the world witnessing a fractious geopolitical environment, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said India and France working together has become important to stabilise global politics. The external affairs minister made the remarks during a meeting with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot in Paris. The two ministers largely focused on preparing ground for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to India next month to participate in the AI Summit. Jaishankar's visit to France comes against the backdrop of growing global concerns over the US' capture of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and his wife in a military operation.

In his opening remarks at the meeting, Jaishankar, elaborating the importance of the talks, mentioned the larger context of "considerable global uncertainty", and said it is natural for strategic partners to consult "very closely" in such a situation. "We must and we are making full use of the various mechanisms we have in different domains," he said. Jaishankar also noted India chairing the BRICS and France helming the G7 this year and even referred to both sides being part of the G20 grouping.

"We are also otherwise active in a number of international organisations. So as two nations committed to multi-polarity, I believe that working together is important for ourselves, also for stabilising the global politics at this stage," he said. The external affairs minister also mentioned Macron's upcoming visit to India. "We are expecting President Macron in India very soon," he said. "France is amongst our oldest strategic partners, the first in Europe and I believe that our continuous conversation is an important part of nurturing that relationship," he said.