Boosting India-France Maritime Cooperation

India’s growing role in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), backed by deeper partnerships with France and Italy, is not aimed at heightening confrontation but at preserving regional stability. Such cooperation underscored the need to secure vital maritime trade routes, strengthen deterrence, and protect the shared strategic interests of the three countries amid the rising geopolitical competition. Indian Ocean politics is undergoing a major strategic churn, underpinned by China’s growing footprint, a receding US influence, and the Indian Ocean littoral states’ exposure to conflicts in the neighbouring Middle East, which has clearly demonstrated to the littoral states, including India, why security in the Indian Ocean must move to the forefront of strategic calculations. Amid multiple ongoing conflicts and renewed international attention on the Middle East and Europe, the Indo-Pacific is already witnessing a relative decline in strategic focus. At the same time, questions about the US’s long-term credibility and commitment continue to shape strategic calculations across Asia.