India, France agree to deepen cooperation on marine science, technology

To encourage scientific partnerships in marine sciences, the Embassy of France in India will endeavour to grant five student mobility scholarships in this field from 2022 onwards. 

India and France have signed an agreement to enhance scientific cooperation in marine science and technology and also exchanges of students and researchers. The agreement between the two nations was signed during External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s three-day visit to France. Both countries aim at contributing to scientific knowledge and ocean conservation, while also ensuring that the ocean remains a global common, a space of freedom and trade, based on the rule of law, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.  

The areas of cooperation will include physical and spatial oceanography, environmental impact studies, combatting marine pollution, knowledge and conservation of biodiversity and marine ecosystem and services.  

The MEA stated that India and France will remain fully committed to the knowledge summit, organised periodically by the two countries, to foster bilateral scientific cooperation. The scientific department of the Embassy of France in India and the Ministry of Earth Sciences of India will be points of contact to lay the groundwork for a workshop dedicated to marine science during the knowledge summit. 

France has also expressed its interest to send an expert group of scientists to India to meet the main oceanography institutes of India, including the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) and National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), and the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management. 

The MEA also said that India and France have satisfactorily noted the launch of the university and scientific cooperation programme GOAT (Goa Atlantic cooperation in Marine Science and Technology), which was signed between the French actors of “Campus mondial de la mer” and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Goa in 2020. 

India, France to facilitate visa issuance for students, researchers 

The two countries will support the implementation of GOAT and facilitate the issuance of visas for the students and researchers involved to encourage student mobility in the blue economy sector and in marine science and technology. They have also called for the development of partnerships between higher education institutions. 

To encourage scientific partnerships in marine sciences, the Embassy of France in India will endeavour, from 2022 onwards, to grant five student mobility scholarships in this field. India will facilitate administrative aspects for the implementation of such partnerships. 

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