India and France discussed supply chain vulnerabilities, critical technologies, cyber security and safeguarding strategic supplies on Tuesday, as Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri held talks in Paris with his French counterpart. Misri and Martin Briens, Secretary General of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, co-chaired the first meeting of the India France critical technologies dialogue. The dialogue was set up during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France in June, and Tuesday’s meeting was its first session.
The India France critical technologies dialogue sat beside a second meeting Misri co-chaired the same day in Paris. The third India-France Strategic Space Dialogue reviewed cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the French space agency CNES, and looked at ways to build commercial space work between the two countries’ space industries. The two sides also held wider talks on the full range of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global issues of shared interest.
The subjects on the table went beyond technology. The talks covered civil nuclear energy, defence and space, cyber and digital cooperation, artificial intelligence and innovation, and people-to-people and cultural ties, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. Misri had co-chaired the India-France Foreign Office Consultations with Briens in Paris in April, when many of the same subjects were discussed. The India France critical technologies dialogue gives economic security and technology a separate forum of their own, and Tuesday’s session was its first use.
India France critical technologies dialogue and supply chains
Supply chains were at the centre of the new dialogue. The Indian Embassy in France said the discussions would deepen cooperation in space, critical technologies and economic security, with a focus on resilient supply chains. Both countries have been looking at how to reduce dependence on single suppliers for goods and parts that matter to their economies, and the dialogue gives officials from both sides a regular place to compare notes and plan joint work.
Bilateral trade between India and France has more than doubled in the last decade, reaching 13.6 billion euros, or around 15 billion dollars, in 2025-26, according to official data. The figure gives the India France critical technologies dialogue a commercial base to build on, since firms in both countries already trade in the goods the dialogue covers. Start-ups, digital connectivity and sports were also named among the newer areas where the two sides want to work together.
India France critical technologies talks and the space dialogue
The space dialogue reviewed progress since its last meeting and discussed ongoing cooperation in the sector. In September, Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh met his French counterpart Philippe Baptiste and said cooperation in space between the two countries had entered a new phase. On 10 September, Prime Minister Modi invited France and other countries to partner with India in its next phase of space exploration, and Tuesday’s talks followed that invitation with a review of what has been done since.
Misri’s two-day visit to Paris on Monday and Tuesday coincided with a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in the French capital. The timing put the India France critical technologies dialogue alongside a wider set of talks among leading economies, at a time when supply chain security has become a regular subject in such meetings. The embassy said the discussions would deepen cooperation between the two countries, and the first session ended with both sides agreeing to keep the dialogue going.
What the India France critical technologies dialogue covers
The subjects listed for the dialogue cover supply chain vulnerabilities, critical technologies, cyber security and safeguarding strategic supplies. The two sides also discussed civil nuclear energy, defence, artificial intelligence and innovation, and the space sector, where ISRO and CNES already work together. The first meeting set out the ground the dialogue will cover, and the next session will show how far the two countries take the cooperation they discussed in Paris.
Misri arrived in Paris on Monday for the two dialogues, and the embassy said at the time that the talks would deepen cooperation in space, critical technologies and economic security. The India France critical technologies dialogue is the newest of the forums the two countries use, and its first meeting put supply chains and technology at the centre of the relationship. Further meetings will decide which projects the two sides take up first.