Daily Press Briefing
Statements made by
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson
(excerpts)
(Paris, March 28, 2006)
[Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official.]
MAURITIUS/FRANCE
Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam of Mauritius will make an official visit to France from March 29 to 31, 2006. He will be accompanied by Rama Sithanen, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, and Madan Dulloo, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The prime minister will be received by President Chirac on March 29. Mr. Ramgoolam will also meet with National Assembly Speaker Jean-Louis Debré, Nicolas Sarkozy, Minister of State, Minister for the Interior and Regional Development, and Thierry Breton, Minister for the Economy, Finance and the Budget.
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy will host a dinner in his honor on March 29. Brigitte Girardin, Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, will have a meeting with him in the morning of March 31.
Mr. Ramgoolam will meet with the business community at Medef and go to Toulouse where the Mauritian delegation, welcomed by the prefect of the region and the mayor of Blagnac, will be presented with a maquette of the Airbus A350 and will visit the A380 assembly line.
This is the first official visit to France by the new prime minister, Mr. Ramgoolam, and will allow us to discuss bilateral cooperation and cooperation between Mauritius and the European Union; we will emphasize the support that France intends to provide Mauritius in restructuring its economy.
Also on the agenda will be regional and multilateral questions as Mauritius holds the presidency of the Indian Ocean Commission in 2006. In this context, the follow-up of projects decided at the July 2005 IOC summit will be discussed, specifically the environment and tourism.
Migration issues take on a special dimension this year given the place the United Nations will give them in September. International debates still fail to take these questions sufficiently into account. Yet the demographic imbalances between the developed and developing countries are widening, and migratory pressures are intensifying because of the gaps in living standards.
In spite of the paucity of the available data, the consequences of migration for countries of origin/destination are beginning to be better identified, especially in terms of development.
Brigitte Girardin, Minister Delegate for Cooperation, Development and Francophony, will hold a seminar on this question on March 29 and 30. Participating will be French and European policy-makers and researchers specializing in these questions. Their findings will be made public on the Foreign Ministry’s website (France Diplomatie).
The organization of a strategic debate on development at the European level will be discussed with the European Commission, the European Investment Bank and the partners of other EU member states.
The minister delegate will talk about the seminar and the question of migrations and co-development at the Foreign Press Center (CAPE) on Thursday, March 30 at 11:30 a.m.
Catherine Colonna, Minister Delegate for European Affairs, will make a working visit to Latvia and Estonia on March 29, 30, and 31, 2006.
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Dominique Perben, Minister for Transport, Capital Works, Tourism and Marine Affairs, will visit Algeria on April 1 and 2 at the invitation of his Algerian counterpart Mohamed Maghlaoui.
Accompanied by Azouz Begag, Minister Delegate for Equal Opportunities, Mr. Perben will make the inaugural flight on the Lyons-Setif route, a trip illustrating the impetus given to bilateral relations in the transportation sector a month and a half ago when the air agreement with Algeria was signed.
During his visit, Mr. Perben, who will be accompanied by a delegation of businessmen and legislators, will have further talks with Mr. Maghlaoui whom he met on February 16 during the Algerian transport minister’s official visit to France. They will discuss the progress in our institutional and technical cooperation in the transportation sector, specifically to meet needs with regard to training, and the participation of French companies in major capital works projects being carried by Algeria to modernize the transportation sector.
As you saw yesterday, Mr. Douste-Blazy, speaking at a press briefing after his meeting with Mr. Roed Larsen, confirmed in response to a question that he would be going himself to Algeria on April 9 and 10. We are in the process of finalizing the program for the visit which we’ll present to you as soon as possible.
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We welcome the smooth legislative election process on March 26 in Ukraine. The elections were described as free and fair by the OSCE observer mission in which France contributed actively, providing a total of 35 observers. We are satisfied that the elections confirmed the achievements of the “Orange Revolution” in terms of democratic pluralism, freedom of expression and independence of the media. We are waiting for the final results of the voting which should be announced during the day.
We expect the government that is formed after the elections to reaffirm its determination to continue the reforms and to ensure the full and complete implementation of the EU-Ukraine action plan, in accordance with the commitments made by Ukraine at the summit with the EU on December 1 in Kiev. We remain committed to strengthening our bilateral relationship, as provided for in the French-Ukrainian roadmap signed by Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy during his visit to Kiev on November 11 with his counterpart Boris Tarassiouk.
FRENCH INSTITUTE IN PONDICHERRY
The inclusion on the UNESCO Memory of the World Register of Shiva manuscripts, of which the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP) and the Ecole française d’Extrême Orient (EFEO) are the depository in Pondicherry, will be celebrated at the IFP on March 30, 2006 at 5 p.m. At that time a plaque will be placed at the Institute in the presence of the governor of Pondicherry, the French ambassador to India, the UNESCO representative to India and the director of the Indian government’s National Mission of Manuscripts.
The majority of the palm leaf manuscripts in the collection, which was started at the IFP in 1955 by then IFP and EFEO Director Jean Filliozat, are conserved by the IFP. The texts written for the most part in Sanskrit and Tamil concern for the most part the religion and cult of the god Shiva. The IFP is the keeper of the world’s largest collection of manuscripts on the Saiva Siddhanta, a religious tradition which is widespread throughout the Indian sub-continent and southeast Asia.
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Q - You’ve nothing to say about the visit by Condoleeza Rice?
Just to confirm what was said by an American source, i.e. that Ms Rice will visit Paris on Thursday, March 30 and will have a meeting at the Elysée with President Chirac at which Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy will naturally participate.
Q - Morning or afternoon?
It will be in the afternoon.
Q - What’s she coming for?
The Americans have said why. I believe she’s stopping off in several European cities. As you know, first in Berlin in the late morning or at lunch time there’s be a six-party meeting, i.e. the five permanent members of the Security Council and Germany, about Iran. Then Ms Rice will come to Paris in the afternoon. One can assume they’ll discuss Iran, Lebanon and Syria, the peace process in the Middle East after the Palestinian and Israeli elections, and maybe Belarus and Ukraine.
Q - Still on the same subject since the minister is taking part in the Berlin meeting, what do you expect from the meeting? Do you have a particular message to put across? What’s the French position ahead of this meeting?
The Berlin meeting follows on other meetings held in the same format. As you will remember, there was a meeting in London of the six ministers of the Security Council’s permanent members plus Germany about the Iranian question. At this meeting we will once again express our wish to see the international community as fully united as possible on the Iranian question. As you know, discussions are under way in New York on a text. We hope there’ll be agreement on the text even before the meeting in Berlin. At the Berlin meeting, the participants will review what’s happening in New York and consider subsequent steps, always with the same concern, namely to maintain a united front in the international community. That is the spirit in which we’re approaching the meeting, and also with the wish, as the minister has stated repeatedly, to demonstrate firmness on the Iranian question and ensure that the international community sends a clear message to Iran.
Q - The Palestinian prime minister designate said yesterday he wanted to begin a dialogue with the Quartet. The Americans and Israelis are opposed. What do you think on the French side?
The foreign minister was asked that yesterday evening after his meeting with Mr. Roed-Larsen and the minister reiterated our position. That we are not closed to dialogue but that we have to have opposite us an interlocutor to engage in dialogue with. He therefore said very clearly that the ball was in the camp of Hamas and the new Palestinian government. For our part, we’ve not changed positions regarding the three principles you know about, that is, renunciation of violence, recognition of the state of Israel and acceptance of the Oslo accords
Q - If Hamas wants to begin a dialogue with the Quartet and the other countries, maybe it’s a good sign.
It would be best for that to be the case. But this government will be judged on its acts. The ball is in Hamas’ camp. It is in the camp of the new Palestinian government, and depending on its attitude to the three principles I’ve just restated, we’ll consider the possibility of contact and dialogue.
Q - Is the minister going to meet the Palestinian general delegate?
I believe that she’s taken up her duties and has already had contacts at the Quai d’Orsay with the persons responsible for the question. I don’t know whether she’s asked for a meeting with the minister, but that’s one of the things that can be considered. I’ve no date for such a meeting.
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Embassy of France, March 28, 2006