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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.]
CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION: SECOND REVIEW CONFERENCE (APRIL 7-18)
The second five-year review conference of the convention banning chemical weapons was held from April 7-18 at The Hague, the headquarters of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Following intensive negotiations, the conference reached agreement on a final document assessing the action of the OPCW, ten years after the Convention entered into force (1997) and five years after the first review conference. It also established the framework of action for the OPCW and the 183 states parties to the Convention for the next five years.
France, which has long been engaged in the fight against chemical weapons (victim of chemical weapons in World War I, depository of the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning the use in war of chemical and bacteriological weapons, and host of the 1993 Paris Conference at which the Chemical Weapons Convention was signed), and given that the threat of use of chemical weapons has not gone away, upheld ambitious positions at the conference with respect to chemical disarmament and nonproliferation.
It welcomes the results of this conference which adopted a substantive final document reflecting the consensus for strengthening the chemical disarmament and nonproliferation regime, and the commitment of states parties completely to eradicate these particularly inhumane weapons.
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ENLARGED MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE OF IRAQ’S NEIGHBORS
Q - Which are the countries that have been invited to the meeting on Lebanon on the sidelines of the conference of Iraq’s neighbors?
The informal meeting on Lebanon, which will be held on the sidelines of the enlarged ministerial conference of Iraq’s neighbors to back up the Arab League’s efforts, will be attended by representatives of the following states: Egypt, Germany, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States as well as by Javier Solana, Amr Moussa and a representative of the UN secretary-general.
Q - Do you confirm the reports about the meeting between the minister and his Syrian counterpart? If so, what will they talk about? Do you confirm the plan to issue a joint communiqué at the end of the meeting?
The minister will obviously be meeting the other ministers attending the conference of Iraq’s neighbors. His program of bilateral meetings hasn’t been finalized yet.
Q - Could you tell us about the meeting between the minister and his Egyptian counterpart? Are you on the same wavelength as Cairo on the region’s issues?
The minister and his Egyptian counterpart, who met Saturday on the eve of President Mubarak’s visit to France, confirmed our close collaboration and common ground on all the regional issues, particularly the peace process and Lebanon.
Q - The Slovenian presidency of the European Union on Saturday rejected the French proposal to invite the Dali Lama to Brussels or Ljubljana to meet the foreign ministers of the 27. Is France dropping the idea or on the contrary planning to revive it in July when it takes over the EU presidency?
We’ve taken note of the communiqué from the Slovenian presidency. We’re still in contact with our European partners on this question.
Q - Does that mean that France is not dropping the idea of receiving the Dali Lama when it assumes the EU presidency and is trying to convince its European partners of the interest of doing so?
As I said, we’re still in contact with our European partners on the whole question.
Q - The Chinese envoy was in Paris at the end of last week. Did he meet with anyone at the Quai d’Orsay?
Yes. Zhao Jinjun, special representative of the president of the People’s Republic of China, was received by Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner on Saturday, April 19. He’d met with President Sarkozy the day before.
The minister and Zhao Jinjun had a broad exchange of views and reaffirmed the importance of relations between our two countries.
Mr. Kouchner recalled France’s constant position concerning China’s territorial integrity and emphasized how important it was for dialogue to be resumed between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama’s representatives./.
Embassy of France, April 22, 2008
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