India, France, UAE discuss West Asia, trilateral cooperation

India, France and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday held a trilateral ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, discussing the situation in West Asia and reviewing progress in cooperation across areas including space and artificial intelligence.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot and UAE Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan led the India-France-UAE Trilateral Ministerial Meeting.

The ministers reviewed progress in trilateral cooperation across agreed areas of mutual interest, including space, artificial intelligence, culture and heritage, and also discussed the situation in West Asia, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.


"They emphasised further strengthening and expanding trilateral cooperation in the areas of mutual interest and to further build upon the strong and friendly ties that exist between the three countries,” it added.

India, France and the UAE reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening constructive ties through concrete initiatives and agreed to hold meetings at regular intervals to review progress across areas of cooperation, the ministry said.

"Collaboration in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Space, health sciences, energy and culture was the main topic of discussion," Jaishankar said in a post on X after the meeting.

"Our shared interests and complimentary capabilities offer immense scope for cooperation. Agreed to meet again soon to take the discussion forward,” he added.

(With PTI inputs)