India-France: Roadmap on Blue Economy and Ocean Governance

February 22, 2022

India and France recently agreed on a Roadmap on Blue Economy and Ocean Governance.

Key Points

Both the countries agreed on this roadmap with the aim of contributing scientific knowledge and ocean conservation.
They seek to ensure that the ocean remains a global common, on the basis of rule of law.
This agreement was signed during three-day visit of External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to France.
Scope of the roadmap will encompass maritime trade, naval industry, marine technology, fisheries, scientific research, marine eco-tourism, inland waterways, integrated coastal management, and cooperation between competent administrations on civil maritime issues.
Both the countries have planned to organise an annual bilateral dialogue on blue economy and ocean governance for exchanging views on their priorities, support ongoing & future cooperation and share their best practices.

India-France on Blue Economy

India and France seek to make blue economy a driver of progress in their respective societies, apart from respecting environment and coastal & marine biodiversity. They noted that, fisheries are a vital economic sector, playing a decisive role in food security and livelihood security, specifically for coastal populations. According to them, demographic, economic & societal factors have resulted into increased global demand for marine products and increasing stress on global fish stocks. Both the countries will make blue economy a priority in development of their economic exchanges.

Visa to entrepreneurs in blue economy

India and France will facilitate contacts between economic actors, technopoles, business heads organisations, and maritime clusters of both the countries, cross investments, besides visa to entrepreneurs active in blue economy.

What is Blue Economy?

The concept of Blue Economy was introduced by Gunter Pauli in his 2010 book titled “The Blue Economy: 10 years, 100 innovations, 100 million jobs”. Blue economy means sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, ocean ecosystem health and improved livelihoods & jobs. It provides for greening of ocean development strategies for conservation of ocean’s health and higher productivity.

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