Shringla for Indo-French synergy in cyberspace

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 30

Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla has conveyed to France the need for urgent “coordinated and definitive” global response to dismantle the infrastructure of radicalism, including its online manifestations.

On his first non-neighbourhood stop in pandemic-age diplomacy, Shringla conveyed India’s solidarity with France and suggested that it was time to stop ascribing attacks in Nice or the beheading of a teacher simply as lone-wolf initiatives or the work of misguided individuals.

This radicalism has the backing of states and organised institutions which is known to everyone, sources quoted Shringla as saying, while stating that, “we cannot and should not postpone a coordinated and definitive response”.

South Block describes France as “India’s oldest strategic partner and our friend for all seasons”. The Foreign Secretary met a cross-section of leading French academia, media and think-tankers.

At his engagements, he described France’s importance as a steadfast friend across many domains – terrorism, global warming, maritime security, norms-based international institutions, and technology and innovation. On all these, “we are inevitably on the same side of the court,’’ he said.

Describing France as an instinctive multilateralist like India, Shringla cited the Indo-French synergy on International Solar Alliance and the Paris pact on climate change to suggest cyberspace and the Indo-Pacific as the next frontiers. “Here and elsewhere, India and France are voices of wisdom and stability and actors for the greater common good,”he stated.