Both France and US have very strong interests in strengthening respective relationships with India even more: Blinken

New York, September 24

The US and France have “very strong interests” in strengthening their respective relationships with India even more, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said, while not getting into the “specific hypotheticals” of a future nuclear submarine alliance between New Delhi and Paris.

Blinken was responding to a question on would the US welcome a nuclear submarine alliance between India and France as the Quad Leaders’ Summit gets under way.

He was also asked about the recent telephonic conversation earlier this week between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, who have a “wide partnership”.

“I’m not going to get into any specific hypotheticals about the future, but let me simply say that both France and the United States have very strong interests in strengthening even more our respective relationships with India. This is something that we strongly support,” Blinken said at a press conference here on Thursday.

Modi and Macron discussed the recent developments in Afghanistan and shared their concerns about the possible spread of terrorism, narcotics, illicit weapons and human trafficking.

During their telephonic conversation, the two leaders reviewed the increasing bilateral collaboration in the Indo-Pacific region, and the important role that the India-France partnership plays in promoting stability and security in the region, a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office in New Delhi said. PTI