| Publications | France A-Z | France/U.S. Relations | France in the U.S. | News | Aller aux Etats-Unis | Just for Kids | Going to France | Contact |
|
Daily Press Briefing Statements made by [Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.] ZIMBABWE
France is deeply concerned at the arrest in Harare last night of two journalists and the search of the information center of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC, opposition party). It asks the Zimbabwean authorities to release the two journalists immediately and reaffirms its attachment to freedom of express and freedom of the press, and the right of association and meeting.
Q - The minister spoke about the Betancourt affair on the radio this morning. I’d like to know whether there’ve been any new developments since or any further information?
I’ve no new information and so I refer you to what the minister said.
Q - I’d like to know how France interpreted Rodrigo Granda’s message which was published by the Bolivarian Press Agency. According to a report from Monde.fr this morning, the message was dated March 19. So it would clearly be prior to the announcement of the humanitarian mission.
Yes, indeed. Our goal is to obtain the release of the hostages, beginning with the weakest among them, especially Ms Ingrid Betancourt. That’s the purpose of the mission. Everything that can help secure their release is being done, but we have to observe the utmost discretion. The minister expressed this morning France’s hopes and determination and also the need sometimes to take risks. In answer to a question he was asked about the chance of the humanitarian mission succeeding, he replied: “I hope from the bottom of my heart and with all my strength that it succeeds. For now, we’re trying, trying, trying—there’s no other solution. I hope the mission succeeds. If you don’t take chances, you risk not succeeding. If you do take a risk, there’s a chance of succeeding.” The hostages’ release, beginning with Ingrid Betancourt, is an absolute humanitarian emergency, a question of life or death.
(…)
Q - Once and for all, can you now confirm the number of reinforcements for the French contingent in Afghanistan? Seven hundred seems a reliable figure at present.
It’s the figure that’s been announced, but we’ll be holding a specific briefing after the summit. As you know, it’s not over yet.
Q - Do you have any comment on the OECD report that was released this morning? It notes a decline in foreign aid by the industrialized countries, and especially France where a significant drop is noted between 2006 and 2007.
There is, as you’ve said, a slight drop in global aid which went from $104.4 billion to $103.7 billion. The drop can be explained by the decline in debt relief aid to the developing countries which had been especially important in 2005 and 2006.
France isn’t exempt from this trend. Its aid slipped from 0.47% of gross national product to 0.39% by virtue of the decline in the share of debt relief. In fact several countries to which France had planned to offer debt cancellation in 2007 did not succeed in achieving the necessary conditions for this to happen, and that explains why our forecasts were different.
However, if one excludes debt relief, French aid expressed in current dollars increased by 4.3% between 2006 and 2007, i.e. more than the average of the member states of the development assistance committee and the EU countries.
There are several ways of calculating it, but such is the trend. May I also remind you that France is the third leading donor globally, providing $9,940 million in net aid and that it is the leader in the G8 in terms of aid in relation to gross national product.
Q - With that said, France is committed, according to the former president and the new president, to increasing or at least maintaining official development assistance. You’re telling us that because these countries are less indebted you’re giving them less. Does one then have to be more heavily indebted to obtain more assistance?
No, that’s not what I said. Debt relief is factored into development assistance, and that explains this development; and as I said, in 2007 we didn’t cancel all the debt we’d planned to.
To conclude, you’re correct to mention our commitment, which the president has reiterated: France has pledged to achieve an aid target of 0.7% of GNP by 2015.
Q - When you talk about global assistance or French assistance to third countries, do you include the conferences you host, which have become so fashionable, and the donations like those at the Paris III conference?
We include everything that France decides and which corresponds to official development assistance. So of course it includes what we decide in the context of donor conferences.
Q - Does that mean that what you offered during the conference on the Palestinians will be included in the figures for 2008?
Yes. We include in our foreign aid figures everything given in the context of this aid, however it is channeled./.
Embassy of France, April 4, 2008
|
