Today's Date:

Daily Press Briefing

Statements made by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson
(excerpts)

(Paris, June 29, 2001)

[Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.]

• FRANCE/JAPAN
• AIDS/U.N.
• MACEDONIA
• IRAQ
• FRY
• MIDDLE EAST

FRANCE/JAPAN

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan will visit France on July 3 and 4 as part of a European tour, after the United States and before the summit in Genoa. This is his first visit to France since being elected prime minister in April. We welcome this first contact with the leader of a major country with which we have intensive, close, friendly relations.

Mr. Koizumi will meet on July 4 with the president, who will give a luncheon in his honor, and on July 3 with the prime minister.

The Japanese prime minister's meetings with French officials will be an opportunity for an exchange of views on issues of mutual interest such as the future of the Kyoto Protocol, strategic questions and security in northeast Asia. The main international questions will also be discussed (situation in the Middle East, the Balkans) and the latest developments in regional cooperation in Europe and Asia. The visit will also allow for a review of the preparation of issues to be addressed at the G8 summit in Genoa.

AIDS/U.N.

The U.N. General Assembly special session on HIV/AIDS was held in New York from June 25-27. As we told you, Charles Josselin, Minister Delegate for Cooperation and Francophony, led the French delegation in the work of the special session.

We consider this special session to be a positive contribution to the fight against AIDS. There are four points in particular:

1) The problem of treatment as one of the indispensable aspects in action against AIDS, on the prevention side; this is to be taken into account. It was one of our priorities reaffirmed by Charles Josselin and Bernard Kouchner.

2) The consensus: the fact that all the participating states supported the final text, leaving aside their differences in approach, strengthens the impact of the final statement.

3) The importance of contributions that were announced for the Global Health and AIDS Fund. France ranks second in volume of contributions announced; as you will remember, the prime minister announced a French contribution of 150 million euros on his recent visit to South Africa in May. So the contribution shows the priority that France gives to addressing this problem at world level.

4) The attention specially accorded Africa, the principal victim in the epidemic.

Now, there still remains a great deal to do, of course, i.e. implement the recommendations in the final statement. An important date will be the international meeting in Dakar, scheduled for the end of November/early December this year on the problems of access to treatment, which will be organized by France and Senegal with U.N. support; it will be in our view an important stage in the follow-up to the session that has just ended.

MACEDONIA

(What's happening, what's the end result, what is the legal status of French troops' participating in Macedonia?)

With regard to the participation of French troops in Macedonia and what might be decided by NATO, I refer you to yesterday's detailed statements by the Defense Ministry spokesman. I have nothing more to add but I believe he was very precise in what he told you. With regard to this aspect of the question, talks are still going on at NATO; let's not prejudge their results. The Defense Ministry spokesman said yesterday what we are preparing to do and in what context. I can also confirm that the European Union representative, François Léotard, arrived in Skopje yesterday. Mr. Badinter left Skopje yesterday at the end of his mission in Macedonia which he had undertaken at the invitation of the Macedonian authorities, with the agreement of all the parties, and was heard by all. His first assessment in the wake of his meetings in Skopje confirms the need to find a political solution through dialogue, and that is the path we for our part, along with our European partners, intend to work for by encouraging the parties one, to turn away from violence and two, to adopt an approach based on dialogue and the search for a political solution.

IRAQ

(What is the status of discussions about the adoption of new resolutions on Iraq since July 3 is so close?)

The discussions are continuing. One has to continue what is started. They are continuing in the Security Council and between capitals in accordance with resolution 1352 on the modalities of substantially easing controls on civilian goods, and there is very little time to the deadline the Security Council set itself. So it's essential to keep talking to bring the views of all the Council members closer together. I'd like to remind you of the spirit and to what objectives we are working. It has been repeatedly said here.

We believe that it is essential that the list of goods that will remain subject to authorization is as short as possible so that the civilian sanctions can be virtually lifted. Talks among the permanent members of the Security Council on preparing such a list are continuing in a constructive spirit and are advancing in this direction. For us, it is important to work towards ending the status quo and easing all the measures that bring suffering to the Iraqi people.

(Can you confirm reports from Washington that Mr. Powell phoned Mr. Védrine Saturday asking that France quickly adopt the new resolution on Iraq?)

No, I cannot confirm that presentation of things. I will simply confine myself to saying that Mr. Powell and Mr. Védrine consult each other continually on Iraq. This goes back to Mr. Védrine's first visit in March--first, that is, in relation to the new U.S. administration. Since then they have had many opportunities to see each other and so to discuss the question. They did so recently when Mr. Védrine was again visiting the U.S. You will also remember--I'm just giving a few examples to illustrate the continuity of French-American cooperation on this question--that Mr. Védrine and Mr. Powell talked about this matter at the NATO ministerial conference in Budapest. There is continual consultation between the two ministers and they spoke again on the telephone two days ago and again discussed this question.

FRY

(About the transfer of Milosevic. What is it going to change for France? Will we have closer, more sustained relations, are we going to provide more aid? Will there be important visits soon in one direction or the other?)

May I first remind you of the statement Mr. Védrine made yesterday in Nigeria as soon as he had confirmation that Mr. Milosevic had left for The Hague:

"I said all along that Milosevic had to answer for his actions before international judges. France has continually worked to convince the Yugoslav authorities to cooperate to this end.

"I applaud their courage and sense of responsibility.

"It is a spectacular demonstration of Belgrade's resolve to subscribe to the common values of democracy and justice which underpin our European societies."

I would also like to say that since the historic turning point in the FRY with the elections last fall which led to Mr. Kostunica's victory, France has spared no effort to facilitate, support and encourage the FRY to return to democracy and to encourage it to move closer to the European Union.

As you'll remember, Mr. Kostunica was the guest of the French presidency after the European Council in Biarritz. You will also remember that he attended the Zagreb summit which was held during the French presidency of the EU. At no time did we stop working to further the FRY's return to the international community in general and the international financial community in particular. I point this out because it is the very objective of the donors conference, which is being held in Brussels today, and it's the reason France worked hard in the past few months to achieve a result which is very satisfactory.

At this point, the priority for the country, after ten years of the regime we well know, after ten years of war, after ten years of economic disorder, the priority is to re-start the country's economy, and we are absolutely determined to continue the action that we began some few months ago already to support the FRY's return to democracy and to the international community. That is the main objective of our action.

MIDDLE EAST

(Have you any comment on Mr. Powell's various statements about international observers? When he was with Mr. Arafat, he said one thing, when he met Mr. Sharon, he said the opposite. How do you judge this?)

I have no comment about Mr. Powell's remarks. On the other hand, you know our position on the substance of the question. I will remind you that France has long been in favor of a verification or observation mechanism in the context of an agreement between the parties whatever its nature. The objective of such a mechanism should be to strengthen the commitments made on both sides to prevent any risk of slipping back in the very fragile process of calm which has started. We understand by these remarks that the talks are continuing.

It goes without saying that if there were a verification mechanism permitting the implementation of an agreement encompassing all the recommendations of the Mitchell Report by preventing any risk of going backwards, France would of course be in favor of it as we have told you many times./.

Embassy of France, June 29, 2001