The French Navy Ship of the French aircraft Carrier Strike Group, deployed in the Indo-Pacific
region in the context of the CLEMENCEAU 25 operation, arrived at the port of Colombo on
16th of March 2025. The main objective of the mission CLEMENCEAU 25 is to strengthen
interoperability with all allies of France while promoting a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific
space with all its partners.
This 142-meter-long Navy ship has been at sea since 24 November 2024. This French navy
ship has taken part in military exercises such as LA PEROUSE 25 with Indo-Pacific nations.
Sri Lanka and France have been maintaining a bilateral relationship for over 75 years, and have
joined their efforts in several military exercises, to the example of the 2022 and 2023 sessions
of the India and France co-organized IMEX exercise, which focused on humanitarian
assistance.
The Regional Centre for Maritime Studies (RCMS) is the fruit of cooperation between France
and Sri Lanka in the field of maritime cooperation, inaugurated
in December 2024.
This center illustrates France’s approach to fostering capacity building and multilateral
approach to the mutual challenges faced in the Indo-Pacific region, where France has around
one million nationals which represents 30% of its Exclusive Economic Zone.
France and Sri Lanka shared the ambition of the RCMS is to foster sustainable cooperation
in the region to standardize operational procedures.
Furthermore, France is involved in many missions in the Indian Ocean, such as the EU
operation ATALANTA, which combats piracy and drug trafficking, and is part of the
international navy coalition Combined Maritime Forces, alongside Sri Lanka, which has been
in command of the Combined Task Force (CTF) 154 since January 2025.
