NEW DELHI (PTI):  India, France and the United Arab Emirates has deliberated on potential areas of cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region as part of a new trilateral framework.

The areas of cooperation identified by the three countries included maritime security, regional connectivity, energy and food security and supply-chain resilience.

"A trilateral meeting of the 'Focal Points' of India, France and the United Arab Emirates was held today," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

The resolve of the three countries to boost cooperation in the Indo-Pacific under the trilateral framework comes amid increasing global concern over China's growing military muscle-flexing in the region.

"The three sides exchanged perspectives on the Indo-Pacific region and explored the potential areas of trilateral cooperation, including maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, blue economy, regional connectivity, cooperation in multilateral fora, energy and food security, innovation and startups, supply chain resilience and cultural and people-to-people cooperation," the MEA said.

"They also discussed the next steps to be taken for furthering trilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region," it said in a statement.

The Indian side was led by Sandeep Chakravorty, Joint Secretary (Europe West) in the MEA and Vipul, Joint Secretary (Gulf).