PARIS, May 30. /TASS/. European countries could create a third force in terms of growth with India and Asian countries by forming a coalition focused on trade and security cooperation, French President Emmanuel Macron said at the Shangri-La Dialogue global security forum in Singapore.

"We want to go further, particularly with India, the Asian countries, and the members as well of the Trans-Pacific Partnership. If we team up, we represent a third of global growth, even more in terms of trade," Macron said. He added that France plans to present a new strategy for the Indo-Pacific region in the coming weeks and wants to develop it with a "European-scale approach."

"We have a lot of credible players, some of them have deterrence capabilities," the French president pointed out, calling for "strategic autonomy" and close cooperation in the field of security and defense. Separately, he called for working on trade cooperation and "new trade agreements" between the EU and countries in the region.