| 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.]
FRANCE/DENMARK
Ms. Lenoir, Deputy Minister for European Affairs, will visit Denmark on September 10 at the invitation of the Danish authorities. There she will hold talks with Mr. Haarder, the European Affairs Minister, and will attend a working meeting at the Folketing, the Danish parliament. Following that, she will deliver a speech at the Danish Institute of International Relations along with Mr. Haarder. Their discussions will cover several major European issues, the work of the Danish EU presidency, enlargement and the Convention, as well as bilateral relations and the consequences of Johannesburg.
President Amadou Toumani Touré will pay an official visit to France from September 9 to 12.
On September 10 he will be received by President Chirac, who will subsequently host a luncheon for him. He will also hold talks with Mr. Jean-Louis Debré, president of the National Assembly.
Previously, on September 9, he will attend a working lunch organized by Mr. Alain Lambert, Deputy Budget Minister. The foreign minister will host a dinner in his and his wife's honor, which will be presided over by Mr. Pierre André Wiltzer, Deputy Minister for Cooperation and Francophony, on the evening of September 10.
The Malian president will meet with the Malian community in Montreuil. He is expected in Lyon on September 11, where he will visit the Institut Bio Mérieux and will speak with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and the Regional Council.
His very busy schedule also calls for meetings with many other figures: Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Secretary-General of the International Organization of Francophony; Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy, Minister of the Interior; Mr. Dominique de Villepin, Foreign Minister; and Mr. Francis Mer, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industry. President Touré will also give a talk at IFRI on peacekeeping and will meet with French investors, notably in the framework of the MEDEF.
Their talks will cover a wide range of subjects, dealing for the most part with the situation in Mali, and economic, regional and bilateral issues.
Beside being Mali's leading trading partner, France is also the largest bilateral fundraiser, with about €60 million in PDA commitments per year, in addition to financing from decentralized cooperation.
This visit follows in the wake of the fourth meeting of the French-Malian Committee on Migration, which offered a forum for openly debating issues linked to migration, a subject that will also be on the agenda. Two conventions will be signed, one dealing with projects promoting civil society (amounting to € 1.5 million) and the other on urban social development (€ 2.1 million).
Q - I believe that one of the subjects to be dealt with during the meeting with President Chirac was the economic crisis. Will the expansion of the Malian Company for Textile Development be discussed?
That is one of our major bilateral issues with Mali. It is regularly on the agenda during French-Malian consultations.
Q - But that's all; there aren't, for example, French intentions to help the company?
That's a subject on which France is not inactive. Conversations on this subject involve the Minister of the Economy and Finance as well, along with various French administrations. This is an active dossier with regard to which proposals have been made and solutions envisioned. Our concern is to find a mutually acceptable solution that also preserves Mali's development capabilities.
The Foreign Minister will be in New York from September 10 to 16 to attend the 57th session of the General Assembly (ministerial week). He will deliver France's speech during the Session's general opening debate (Sept. 12 at 6:30 P.M.). During the week, he will attend a certain number of bilateral meetings with other Foreign Ministers also present in New York, and he will take part in other important events.
Here is a summary of his program:
- Switzerland's admission to the UN. As a representative of a neighboring country and friend of Switzerland, Mr. de Villepin will present a historic resolution to the General Assembly on September 10 at 5:30 P.M. that will make that country the 190th UN Member State. It is an honor bestowed upon us.
- Two Security Council meetings at the ministerial level: One to commemorate the terrorist attacks of September 11 and reiterate the international community's resolve to fight terrorism; the other devoted to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, attended by Presidents Mbeki, Kabila and Kagame, to support the implementation of the Pretoria (Sun City) accord, on September 13 at 12:15 P.M.
- A meeting devoted to the New Economic Partnership for African Development, to last all day on the 16th.
- A "5+5xX" ministerial meeting (comprising the P5, five neighbors and other concerned States) on Afghanistan, attended by Hamid Karzai, whom Dominique de Villepin will be delighted to meet again, and by Kofi Annan, to mark the international community's continued support for the interim Afghan authority, at the UNAMA and the ISAF.
- Meetings between EU ministers, the U.S. Secretary of State and the Russian Foreign Minister.
- A G8 dinner meeting.
- The traditional lunch bringing together the Secretary General and the Foreign Ministers of the five permanent members of the Security Council.
- Finally, on September 16, Mr. de Villepin will preside over the dinner bringing together all French-speaking countries, an active component of the UN family.
This ministerial week will provide an opportunity for the minister and his interlocutors to take stock and put into perspective the major conferences held this year (particularly those of Monterrey on the financing of development efforts and Johannesburg on sustainable development). The priority must now be given to the implementation of commitments entered into at those conferences as well as in the Millennium Declaration. It is also important to continue contemplating ways to improve world governance, notably in the economic, social, financial and environmental spheres.
This week will give the minister an opportunity to reiterate France's attachment to the proper functioning of the multilateral system as an ensemble of mutual commitments and mechanisms of collective decision-making, and to the UN reform process (reform of GA and ECOSOC working methods, improved synergy between organizations, enlargement of the Security Council in the categories of permanent and non-permanent members, greater cooperation with regional organizations and integrating bodies, notably the EU).
Part of the discussions will be devoted to regional crises: India-Pakistan, the African Great Lakes, the Mideast, Iraq. The UN must remain the framework in which decisions are made and their regulatory parameters are defined. It also has a crucial role to play in the implementation of peace agreements and in the monitoring of cessation of hostilities, a role that reforms undertaken following the Brahimi report allow it to better fulfill.
In the area of human rights, France will work to help establish the international criminal court and develop new universal norms: a French-German initiative aimed at launching a convention prohibiting human cloning for reproductive purposes; a French initiative aimed at launching the negotiation of an instrument on forced disappearances; support for the conclusion of a protocol to the convention against torture.
That's it for Mr. de Villepin's schedule, but you know that France will also be represented by Mr. Renaud Muselier, the State Secretary, who will be in New York from Sept. 9 to 13; he will have a whole series of meetings and activities that we will present to you as soon as possible in a little more detail. Likewise, Deputy Minister Wiltzer will arrive in New York on the 15th and will stay for all of the following week. We will present his schedule in a little more detail as soon as possible.
The French speech will be delivered on September 12 at 6:00 P.M.
Q - Will it precede or follow President Bush's speech?
It will follow it. President Bush will speak during the morning, between 10 and 11.
Q - With regard to regional crises, is there anything new on the preventive diplomatic front?
Measures have been taken to support preventive diplomacy in the UN, notably in the logistical arena. Today a particular effort is being made with regard to preventive diplomacy at the regional level: efforts to strengthen preventive diplomacy in Africa, in Latin America or elsewhere with support from existing regional organizations.
Q - With regard to President Chirac's speech at the Ambassadors Conference, are legal instruments being developed to follow up on presidential proposals? He had mentioned legal instruments concerning the destruction and control of weapons of mass destruction, etc.
The question is indeed being considered. The French speech will surely refer to this problem. We will get back to it.
Q - What's the status of the French-German International Convention prohibiting human cloning?
This initiative is continuing. We are going to use this General Assembly to vigorously revive it.
Q - Will the Convention be voted on this year, during this Assembly?
I don't know if we will be able to get it adopted this year, but in any case, we certainly intend to give it a strong push in that direction.
Q - Also with regard to presidential announcements-a number of things were announced, mainly informal meetings between the EU and the Maghreb states, as well as the French-Chadian mixed committee. Have any mechanisms got under way for that sort of meeting?
I don't think that has much to do with the UN General Assembly.
Q - What about the president's schedule, announced at the Ambassadors' Conference?
Preparations are underway.
Q - What's the reaction to Mr. Sharon's speech, in which he said that the Oslo accord, Madrid, all that's finished?
I have no particular reaction. It's not the first time the Israeli authorities have made those kinds of comments. As far as we're concerned, in any case, we believe it's necessary to get back to the achievements of the peace process, and previous agreements must remain in place.
Q - Anything new on the Israeli Supreme Court decision? Twice this week, the Quai d'Orsay said it was assessing information and analyzing the situation concerning the Palestinian expulsions. Have we made any progress?
We haven't yet finished our work on the complete text of the Court ruling; I can only give you a preliminary reaction.
You are familiar with our general position rejecting any measure that smacks of collective punishment or illegal deportation. We have noted one development, which could be interesting, in the court ruling: The court refers in its decision to the Fourth Geneva Convention concerning the protection of civilians. That's a development that needs to be examined. Let me remind you that we believe that Convention applies to the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We also note that the Court has made a precise analysis of different types of cases subject to its control.
Q - So, for France, those two persons could have been expelled legally, for the time being. We're not sure that's illegal?
For us, what matters is the compliance or non-compliance with the law, and that includes, in our eyes, the Fourth Geneva Convention. It seems to us indeed that the Court has placed itself within the framework of that Convention. We may agree or not agree with this or that individual assessment, but as far as the principles are concerned, at first glance and subject to a more in-depth analysis, this decision does not call for any particular comment on my part.
Let me remind you of my statement yesterday on the murderous attack in Kabul.
"France very firmly condemns the murderous attack that has just taken place in Kabul. This criminal attack demonstrates that the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan remains an imperative. All efforts must be mobilized to this end in Afghanistan and among the international community. France stands by the Afghan authorities to fight the difficult battle for security and against extremism. That's the message that the foreign minister, who was in Kabul on Tuesday, gave his interlocutors. That is the meaning of our country's determined efforts."
Furthermore, I would like to mention that Mr. de Villepin wrote to President Karzai as soon as he found out about the attack, because he had just met him two days before, to express his great emotion following the attack against him in Kandahar. Through him, the reconciliation efforts are obviously being targeted. Now more than ever, Afghan unity must be everyone's objective. The minister also expressed how deeply shocked he was by the heinous attack in Kabul, a criminal act we vigorously condemned; and he reiterated France's long-term commitment to Afghanistan. A key element is the deep cultural bond between our two countries. We saw it at work at the Kabul Museum, but also in the classrooms of the Malalai and Esteqlal lycées. We see the strength of Afghan culture and also the interest and enthusiasm elicited by French culture in Afghanistan.
Q - The United States is seeming to soften on the question of extending the ISAF mandate. Given the current climate and the incidents of the last few days, is France thinking about this?
Views are being exchanged on this issue in New York. During Mr. de Villepin's trip to Kabul, we had an opportunity to further define our position on this subject. I refer you to the minister's remarks; their essential philosophy is that we must ensure the coherence of the international effort. The international community, and first and foremost France, is making a great effort to train the Afghan army. France is training two of the four Afghan army battalions; it has finished training the first and is starting on the second. The purpose is obviously to allow the Afghan army to maintain or re-establish order in the various Afghan territories. Given the situation in Afghanistan and the sensitivity of that country, for the time being, we believe that in these circumstances, the main thing is not to extend ISAF's mandate any farther geographically than it already is; we must encourage and help the Afghans to assume their responsibilities, not do it for them.
Q - Is France ready and able to continue the war alongside the Americans for years? Because it seems that the security situation is worse than what's being said.
What the minister said is that we conceive our commitment to Afghanistan-I'm talking about our commitment in general, not a specifically military commitment-as being a long-term one.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT/EU/US
Q - In Elsinore, I understood that the Fifteen gave themselves about 30 days to make a decision, but a series of expert opinions seem to rule out the conclusion of bilateral agreements. Does France have a position on this subject, notably vis-à-vis countries like Romania, which is a candidate, Italy and Great Britain, which are ready to sign as Mr. Bush asked them?
The subject was raised in Elsinore. The Danish Presidency noted that the Fifteen were unanimous in their belief that a common response had to be found among all Member States to the American demands, as well as to candidate countries' expectations. The dialogue with the US on this issue must continue in order to find a solution that does not undermine the integrity of the Court's status. Legal experts from the Fifteen will continue their work and the COPS should meet to debate the issue.
Q - Do you have any comment on yesterday's meeting between Mr. Kofi Annan and Mr. de Villepin?
I can confirm that Mr. Dominique de Villepin met with Mr. Kofi Annan yesterday evening. They notably discussed a certain number of major regional crises: Afghanistan first of all, just after the attacks in Kabul and against President Karzai. Mr. de Villepin was returning from Afghanistan. They discussed the difficult situation in that country and the need to act over the long term.
They also talked about Iraq, the Great Lakes and the question of Cyprus, which is the subject of the UN Secretary-General's visit to Paris. On Friday, he is slated to meet with the protagonists of that crisis.
Q - And concerning Iraq?
We did indeed discuss the question of Iraq and many of its dimensions.
Q - After that meeting, did you get the impression that any progress has been made in the dialogue between the UN and Iraq? What's your assessment?
I would rather not give you that kind of assessment today. For us, the only thing that matters is for Iraq to accept the return of the inspectors as rapidly as possible, without delay, without preconditions and without obstacles.
Q - Did they take the same approach?
In any case, there were no divergences, and you know that part of our line consists of supporting the Secretary-General's efforts.
Yesterday Mr. Dominique de Villepin received Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad, Laos's Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was paying a working visit to France.
Their conversation provided an opportunity to note the attention France has paid to developments in Laos, to which it is attached by historical, cultural and human ties, and to encourage that country to continue reforms with regard to the rule of law.
The two ministers notably evoked cooperation in the area of human resources. Budding managers in Laos are benefiting from important and useful internships in France. Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad warmly thanked our country for its interest, stressing the quality of those internships.
Mr. Villepin noted the importance we attach to improving the human rights situation in Laos.
The two ministers also discussed regional and international issues, particularly the fight against terrorism. Furthermore, Mr. Villepin reaffirmed France's support for strengthening the dialogue between the EU and ASEAN.
Following his talks with Mr. Villepin, Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad attended a working lunch hosted by Mr. Renaud Muselier. During the lunch, bilateral issues were discussed in depth.
Mr. Muselier noted that France was one of the very first foreign investors in Laos and encouraged a policy of economic reforms, as demonstrated by its cooperation in the areas of training and good governance, as well as its support for the Nam Theun II hydroelectric dam project, achieved in partnership with EDF.
We are highly concerned by the latest measures taken in Gaza, which make the daily life of its inhabitants even more difficult.
I want to reiterate that we expect agreements between Israelis and Palestinians to be implemented, particularly with respect to Gaza./.
Embassy of France, September 6, 2002
|
