Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held significant discussions on Tuesday with leaders of France, whose relations with the United States is fraying over Washington's actions in the region.

Modi tweeted after his virtual interaction with France's President Emmanuel Macron that they discussed “closer collaboration between India and France in the Indo-Pacific.”

“We place great value on our Strategic Partnership with France, including in the UNSC (Security Council,” he added.

Macron responded in an effusive tweet, “Thank you for reaffirming the importance of our Strategic Partnership. India and France are strongly committed to making the Indo-Pacific an area of cooperation and shared values. We will continue to build on this.”

He prefaced it writing in Hindi, “Namate priya saathi, priya mithr” (Namaste, dear comrade, dear friend”) -- "नमस्ते, प्रिय साथी, प्रिय मित्र।"

In New York, Jaishankar began his round of diplomacy on the sidelines of the General Assembly High Level Week on Tuesday by meeting with France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves LeDrian.

He called Paris a “strategic partner” and said at the Security Council the two countries are “solid partners.”

Jaishankar tweeted after the meeting that they had a comprehensive discussion “on Afghanistan, Indo-Pacific and other contemporary issues.

He later met with Quad partner Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne and tweeted that they “took forward strategic conversations” from their last meeting.

He added that he “was apprised of recent developments in the Indo-Pacific.”

On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to participate in a Quad summit with President Joe Biden and Prime Ministers Yohihide Suga of Japan and Scott Morrison of Australia, the allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

India, which has strong defence ties with France that sells it advanced aircraft, is caught in the middle of the dispute between its Quad partners, the US and Australia, and France.

France recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra protesting against the manner in which President Joe Biden's administration worked out a plan to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines undermining a contract worth more $50 billion for France to supply submarines to Australia.

LeDrian has called it a “back-stabbing” and said Biden's a” brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision” reminded him of former President Donald Trump's “America First” policies.

France has to ensure that India, one of its biggest defence clients, is not wooed away through its close Quad ties.

Underlining France's concerns over India and the Indo-Pacific, Jaishankar and LeDrian had held a phone conversation on Saturday.

Closer in the Indo-Pacific region, Jaishankar met with Indonesia's Foreign Minister Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi, whom he described in a tweet as “a key ASEAN partner.”

He said that they discussed regional developments and added, “Shared interests and common perspectives drive our strong cooperation.”

Jaishankar also met with Foreign Ministers Hossein Amirabdollahian of Iran and Sameh Shoukry of Egypt in a morning of whirlwind diplomacy.

Iran is a direct neighbour of Afghanistan and developments there impact it as it does India.

The “meeting reaffirmed our convergence on regional issues,” Jaishankar tweeted.

India has routed aid to Afghanistan through the Chabahar port it is developing in Iran.

Jaishankar tweeted that they continued “our conversation on strengthening bilateral cooperation.”