Meeting between Laurent Fabius and the Iranian Ambassador (Paris, Aug. 6)
Syria
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius’s visit to Indonesia and Vietnam (Aug. 1-5)
Meeting between Laurent Fabius and the Iranian Ambassador (Paris, Aug. 6)
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius received Ali Ahani, Iran’s ambassador to France, on August 6. With the presidential elections having demonstrated the Iranian people’s desire for change, the minister indicated France’s hope that President Rouhani’s inauguration would open a new chapter in relations with Iran.
Noting President Rouhani’s expressed desire for dialogue, the minister emphasized that France, like its partners, is ready to work with the new authorities but that it expects concrete actions from Iran in response to international concerns about the aims of its nuclear program, its involvement in Syria and the human rights situation.
What’s your reaction to Syria’s candidacy for the Human Rights Council?
Syria’s candidacy for a seat on the UN Human Rights Council would be particularly shocking, considering that for more than two years, the regime has been carrying out operations targeting Syrian civilians—operations described by the International Commission of Inquiry as war crimes and a crime against humanity.
Syria has no place in an institution whose mission is to promote the universal respect and defense of human rights, particularly given that it is denying the International Commission of Inquiry access to its territory.
The Human Rights Council also issued several condemnations—most recently in June—of the massive human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the Syrian regime in more than two years.
Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius’s visit to Indonesia and Vietnam (Aug. 1-5)
Mr. Fabius just traveled to Indonesia and Vietnam, the first official visit to those two countries by a French foreign minister in nearly 20 years. He also paid the first visit by a French foreign minister to the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta.
This trip underscored France’s desire to give new momentum to relations between France and Southeast Asia. During the speech he gave on France’s Asia policy at ASEAN headquarters, Mr. Fabius emphasized that expanding our relations with the countries of Southeast Asia should be given the same importance as our other major Asian partnerships, including China, India and Japan.
In Indonesia, the minister’s meetings with political officials reflected a shared desire to concretely implement the bilateral strategic partnership signed in 2011. Strengthening our economic ties is a priority, as Indonesia represents 40 percent of ASEAN’s GDP but is only our fourth-largest trading partner in the region. Mr. Fabius, accompanied by French business leaders, backed French investments in Indonesia, which are part of a long-term vision with respect to sustainable development. He and his partners discussed certain issues that could be concretized in the short term, notably in the aeronautics industry. It was decided to expand cooperation in the fight against climate change ahead of the 2015 COP21 conference, and to stress university and professional training (two agreements were signed on the training of civil servants).
In Vietnam, Mr. Fabius’s visit was an opportunity to present our concept of the strategic partnership to be established between our two countries. The foreign minister underscored the quality of our political relations, our close-knit cultural ties and our lively university cooperation, illustrated by the nearly 7,000 Vietnamese students in France. However, he also emphasized the weakness and imbalance of commercial ties, which are not commensurate with the potential or the ambitions of the leaders of both countries. The minister and his interlocutors, notably the Vietnamese Prime Minister, to whom Mr. Fabius issued an invitation on behalf of the French authorities to visit France in the near future, decided to nurture our strategic partnership through concrete advances in the short term in priority sectors: infrastructure, sustainable urban development, aeronautics, defense, energy and finance.
These two visits strengthened France’s crucial presence in Southeast Asia.