As forces of disruption and geopolitical tension threaten to destabilise the very framework of international cooperation, Chief Justice of India Surya Kant has underlined the importance of India-France partnership, saying it’s not a luxury but a lifeline.Addressing the Indo-French Legal and Business Conference in Paris on Friday, the CJI said, “The relationship between the two countries has long transcended the purely diplomatic and has evolved into a multidimensional architecture, encompassing everything from defence and security cooperation to a shared pursuit of sustainable growth and advanced technologies.”“We have witnessed a remarkable acceleration in our bilateral trade, which has more than doubled over the last decade, surging from $6.4 billion in 2009-10 to an impressive $15.11 billion in the last fiscal year,” CJI Kant said.Speaking on “Cross-Border Dispute Resolution: Courts, Arbitration and India-France Year of Innovation 2026”, the CJI said, “The relationship between France and India is not a creation of convenience, it is a bond forged over centuries. Today, standing on the shoulders of this history, we face a world transformed by uncertainty. The forces of disruption and geopolitical tension threaten to destabilise the very framework of international cooperation. In such a world, the France-India partnership is not a luxury; it is a lifeline.”“As we stand at the precipice of the Year of Innovation 2026, we are no longer just building the nest, we are mapping the sky in which we fly,” Justice Kant said.As India and France entered a new phase of innovation this year, they did so supported by a dispute-resolution architecture that is not reactive, but anticipatory, not adversarial, but principled, and not merely efficient, but enduring, he added.United by the shared belief in democracy, the rule of law and the pursuit of a peaceful and just global order, both countries possess complementary strengths, the CJI said, underlining that a promising avenue lies in the establishment of joint arbitration and mediation panels, comprising professionals trained across civil and common law traditions.
