Statements made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson (Paris, November 21, 2014)
Climate disruption financing – Joint communiqué issued by Laurent Fabius, Ségolène Royal, Michel Sapin and Annick Girardin (November 20, 2014)
French education abroad – Meeting chaired by Mr. Laurent Fabius together with Ms. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (November 20, 2014)
Mali – Resumption of inter-Malian negotiations (November 20, 2014)
Air Algérie flight AH 5017 – Identification of the victims (November 20, 2014)
Gulf Cooperation Council
Climate disruption financing – Joint communiqué issued by Laurent Fabius, Ségolène Royal, Michel Sapin and Annick Girardin (November 20, 2014)
At the capitalization meeting, 21 countries pledged to contribute $9.3 billion to the Green Climate Fund, the new international climate disruption financing tool. This fund should support developing countries in their transition toward trajectories that are consistent with the goal of limiting global warming to 2°C.
France helped build positive momentum through the commitment made by President Hollande at the UN Climate Summit in September to contribute $1 billion to the Green Climate Fund. This momentum must be continued. Several countries have indicated their intention to contribute to the fund in the near future.
France stated that its contribution would consist of a 489 million euros grant and a zero-interest loan of 285 million euros.
Bolstered by its new resources, the fund will, beginning in 2015, be able to help developing countries finance efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and, for the most vulnerable countries in particular, support their climate change adaptation policies.
The fund’s initial capitalization is an important milestone ahead of the COP20 in Lima in the run-up to the 2015 Paris Climate Conference, where a new universal and ambitious agreement on the fight against climate change should be concluded under the auspices of the United Nations.
French education abroad – Meeting chaired by Mr. Laurent Fabius together with Ms. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (November 20, 2014)
Mr. Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, yesterday chaired, together with Ms. Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research, a meeting on the major challenges facing our French education abroad network with representatives of elected officials representing French nationals living abroad, the Agency for French Education Abroad, the Mission Laïque Française (French Secular Mission) and the parents of students.
France has a globally unique educational network. With 500 schools in more than 130 countries, it has an enrolment of almost 330,000 pupils. It represents a major investment for the government which assigns approximately 10,000 Ministry of National Education, higher education and research personnel to the network and provides it with 500 million euros in funding every year. This network has been growing steadily by 3% every year and fulfills a twofold mission: providing education for French children abroad and teaching foreign students. As such, it helps to raise our country’s profile and enhance its attractiveness.
This meeting provided an opportunity to draft guidelines on how to develop our network in accordance with our diplomatic priorities and our economic interests. Mr. Laurent Fabius notably reaffirmed the importance of developing the alumni network through Campus France’s “France Alumni” platform which he will inaugurate on November 26 at the Quai d’Orsay.
Mali – Resumption of inter-Malian negotiations (November 20, 2014)
France welcomes the opening in Algiers of a new round of negotiations between the Malian government and the non-terrorist rebel groups.
It reaffirms its support for Algeria’s mediation efforts and urges all parties to fully commit to the resumption of these discussions at a high level in order to make progress toward the conclusion of a lasting peace agreement.
Air Algérie flight AH 5017 – Identification of the victims (November 20, 2014)
The process of identifying the remains of the victims of the Air Algérie flight AH 5017 crash on July 24, 2014, in Mali was concluded on November 20, with the meeting of the technical committee consisting of French and Algerian experts who carried out analyses of the ante-mortem and post-mortem data of the victims at the genetics laboratory of the National Gendarmerie's Institute of Criminal Research (IRCGN).
This identification means that the remains of the victims of the air disaster can be returned to their families and will help put an end to this painful wait.
This process, which was entrusted to the IRCGN by the competent Malian authority, utilized the latest technology and was conducted thanks to the cooperation of all 16 countries concerned by the disaster, most notably Mali and Algeria, as well as the assistance of INTERPOL in the collection of ante-mortem data. In accordance with established practice, the results were officially released on November 20 by the Conciliation Commission which met under the chairmanship of Mohamed Ali Bathily, Malian Minister of Justice.
Gulf Cooperation Council
We welcome the agreement reached in Riyadh at the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit on November 16 on strengthening relations between its members.
This agreement provides for the return of the Ambassadors of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates to Qatar. We commend the Kuwaiti mediation efforts which helped to secure this outcome.
We welcome King Abdullah's appeal for reconciliation between Egypt and Qatar.
These are important positive signals in a troubled regional context.