Visit to Delhi of Pierre Sellal

Mr Pierre Sellal, Secretary General of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was in New Delhi on 28 June 2012 for the annual session of bilateral political consultations between France and India.

This dialogue with his Indian counterpart, Shri Ranjan Mathai, helped take overall stock of the regional situation, and discuss Afghanistan in particular, the major current international issues in North Africa and the Middle East, especially Syria and Iran, and Libya’s emergence from crisis, as well as the European Union-India relationship.

This was also an opportunity to progress on the numerous bilateral projects developing as part of the strategic partnership between the two countries, to which the President of the French Republic, H.E. Mr François Hollande, and the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, reiterated their attachment during their bilateral meet on the margins of the Los Cabos G20 Summit, on 20 June. This remarkably substantive strategic partnership covers a great number of areas of cooperation: defence, civilian nuclear energy, university, scientific and space, counter-terrorism, development of economic ties and bilateral trade, as well as the ever-increasing people-to-people contacts and cultural ties.

Mr Sellal was also received by the Hon’ble Minister of State for External Affairs, Smt Preneet Kaur.

Lastly, during a seminar organised by the Observer Research Foundation, Mr Sellal gave a talk entitled, “The Euro, European Integration and International Regulation”, elaborating on all the measures being implemented by the European Union to meet the challenges of the sovereign debts crisis, boosting growth and strengthening governance in the euro zone. (Click here for speech)