Why in news? India, France and the United Arab Emirates declared their common intent to formalise a “trilateral cooperation initiative” to collaborate on nuclear energy and explore opportunities in the Indian Ocean region.

Highlights

• This initiative will serve as a forum to promote cooperation projects in the fields of energy, with a focus on solar and nuclear energy.
• It is also to fight against climate change and the protection of biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region
• They will expand their cooperation through initiatives such as the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, led by the UAE, and the Indo-Pacific Parks Partnership led by India and France.
• Cooperation in multilateral bodies such as the World Health Organization (WHO), Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund and Unitaid will be encouraged
• In this context, trilateral conferences and meetings on the sidelines of high-level technology events such as Vivatech, Bengaluru Tech Summit and GITEX will be arranged to support cooperation.

Earlier meeting

• The trilateral was first discussed when the three Ministers Dr. Jaishankar, France’s Catherine Colonna and the UAE’s Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan  had met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2022.
• It was further agreed upon that ,a range of trilateral events will be held in the backdrop of the Indian Presidency of the G-20 and COP28 to be held in UAE in November-December 2023.