India, UAE & France Trilateral Cooperation Initiative

• In a trilateral cooperation initiative in the areas of business, energy, and defence, India joined the UAE and France.
• India, France, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently decided to join forces to cooperate on combating climate change and protecting biodiversity, defence planning, prevention of infectious illnesses, and developing nuclear and solar energy.
• At a meeting held in New York on September 2022 during the United Nations General Assembly, the concept for this alliance was first brought forth.

Major Highlights of the Trilateral Initiative:

• It will act as a platform to encourage the development and implementation of joint initiatives in the energy sector, with a focus on solar and nuclear energy.
• Additionally, the programme would support efforts to combat climate change and safeguard biodiversity, particularly in the Indian Ocean region.
• Under the auspices of India's Mission LiFE, the three parties wished to collaborate in the area of circular economy.
• Along with collaborating on defence, fighting infectious illnesses, and fostering collaboration in international health organisations including the World Health Organization, Gavi-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, and Unitaid, the three nations have also pledged to work together.
• The three nations will also look for ways to work together practically to implement the "One Health" philosophy and to encourage the growth of regional capacity for biomedical innovation and production in underdeveloped nations.
• The three nations also decided to intensify their collaboration through projects like the Indo-Pacific Parks Partnership and the Mangrove Alliance for Climate, both of which are led by India and France.

India project for clean energy at international platform:

International Solar Alliance (ISA):

• The goal of ISA is to aggregate demand for solar finance, technology, innovation, research and development, and capacity building in order to scale up solar energy and lower the cost of solar power generation.

"One Sun, One World, One Grid" (OSOWOG):

• It is based on the idea of constructing and expanding interregional energy systems to distribute solar energy globally. It may be the answer to the majority of our current issues with the world's energy supply.

India's pledge during the COP26 summit in Glasgow:

• to increase India's capacity for non-fossil energy to 500 GW by 2030.
• to reduce India's carbon intensity by more than 45% by the year 2030.
• By 2070, India will reach the goal of having net zero carbon emissions.

India engagement with France and UAE:

France:

• In 2005, India and a French company entered into a technology-transfer agreement to build six Scorpene submarines in India's Malegaon dockyards.
• Additionally, an intergovernmental agreement between India and France was inked in 2016 under which France promised to pay India 60,000 crore rupees for 36 Rafale fighter fighters.
• The International Solar Alliance is being developed in collaboration with France and India.
• France has decided to take part in India's 2025 Venus mission.

UAE:

• Economic Partnership: India and the UAE signed the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in 2022 with the intention of doubling their bilateral commerce to $100 billion in five years.
• Additionally, India and the UAE are debating how to increase non-oil trade in rupees, which will support the internationalisation of the rupee.
• With a projected value of about US$ 28 billion for the years 2021–2022, UAE is India's second-largest export market (after the US).
• India will be the second-largest trading partner for the UAE in 2021, with a total trade volume of about USD 45 billion (non-oil trade).