NEW DELHI — India and France agreed on Tuesday to strengthen cooperation in several areas of mutual interests during talks between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and visiting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that during the bilateral talks between Jaishankar and Le Drian, who is on an official three-day visit to India, the immense opportunities for greater collaboration in diverse sectors such as trade and investments, defense and security, health, education, research and innovation, energy and climate change were recognized in the context of the changes in a COVID-impacted world.

The discussions also underlined the importance of fast tracking the discussions on an India-EU trade and investment agreement in order to tap the full potential of bilateral trade and economic relations.

"They explored ways to strengthen cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, including the India-France-Australia Trilateral mechanism, addressing emerging challenges in the maritime and space domains and working together in the area of climate action and biodiversity protection," the statement said.

"In this regard, India welcomes France's decision to take up the 'Maritime Resources' pillar of India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI)," it said in a statement.

At the East Asia summit in Bangkok in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed setting up of the IPOI to conserve and sustainably use the maritime domain and to make meaningful efforts to create a safe and secure maritime domain.

Discussions also touched upon on a number of regional and global issues of mutual interest as both the sides renewed their commitment to a multipolar world and faith in multilateralism.

The visiting French minister is slated to meet Prime Minister Modi and participate along with the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar at a panel discussion on climate change in Delhi.

The French minister arrived here on Monday evening to explore ways to further boost cooperation between the two countries including in the Indo-Pacific region.

After the talks, Jaishankar said India and France would advance their shared post-COVID agenda through "close collaboration".

"A comfortable, substantive and productive discussion with FM@JY_LeDrian. India and France will advance their shared post-COVID agenda through close collaboration," he tweeted.

French ambassador Emmanuel Lenain described the meeting as "excellent".

"Excellent meeting b/w @JY_LeDrian @francediplo_EN & @DrSJaishankar @MEAIndia. The ministers discussed all aspects of the bilateral strategic partnership, regional & global challenges and cooperation at the #UNSC," Lenain said in a tweet.

Bilateral trade with France has witnessed a steady rise in the last decade reaching $10.75 billion in 2020.

On Monday, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said the visit by the French foreign minister would pave the way for further strengthening of bilateral partnership across trade, defense, climate, migration and mobility, education and health sectors in the post-COVID-19 context.

The French embassy said Le Drian is undertaking the visit to strengthen strategic ties between France and India, boost cooperation in several fields, particularly the Indo-Pacific.

The defense and security ties between India and France are on an upswing in the last few years. India had signed an inter-governmental agreement with France in September 2016 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs. 58,000 crore. — Agencies