IVORY COAST: French Prime Minister Francois Fillon pledges to boost assistance to Ivory Coast as it emerges from conflict

Record ID: 181957

  • Title: IVORY COAST: French Prime Minister Francois Fillon pledges to boost assistance to Ivory Coast as it emerges from conflict
  • Date: 16th July 2011
  • Summary: PRESIDENTIAL PALACE, ABIDJAN, IVORY-COAST (JULY 15, 2011) (REUTERS) IVORY COAST PRESIDENT ALASSANE DRAME OUATTARA SHAKING HANDS WITH FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON OUATTARA AND FILLON WALKING JOURNALISTS LOOKING ON MORE OF OUATTARA AND FILLON WALKING. VARIOUS OF OUATTARA AND FILLON ADDRESING NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON, SAYING: "We're going to engage in an unprecedented effort towards clearing debts and development, this contract, which will bring in 2 billion euros, we negotiated together. We will set-up a Ivorian-French mixed commission, France decided to add one billion euros of debt relief '' SECURITY GUARD (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON, SAYING: "I have come with a significant delegation of business leaders to enable French enterprise to renew co-operation with Ivory Coast. To allow French companies to invest in Ivory-Coast, there are immense needs in terms of infrastructure and French companies have the know how. They will need of course to be the best in a competition, which is open." VARIOUS OF VERSUS BANK BUILDING, PEOPLE STANDING IN FRONT OF BANNER READING IN FRENCH "FRENCH AND IVORIAN COMPANIES ECONOMIC FORUM" (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON, SAYING: "France does not want to be an exclusive partner in Ivory-Coast. That was another epoch, we wish to be the reference partners for Ivory-Coast and we'll make sure our companies are the most performing.'' (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON, SAYING: "I am calling all those who continue to describe the relations between Africa and France as 'La France-Afrique' should change the record and change their software, this has nothing to do with today's reality." VARIOUS OF FRENCH DELEGATION WALKING VARIOUS OF IVORIAN PRIME MINISTER GUILLAUME SORO AND FRENCH PRIME MINISTER FRANCOIS FILLON WALKING VARIOUS OF UNVEILING CEREMONY, PLAQUE COMMEMORATING PEOPLE KIDNAPPED FROM THE HOTEL NOVOTEL AND KILLED IN APRIL 2011
  • Embargoed: 31st July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Cote d'Ivoire
  • Country: Ivory Coast
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA42JL0E5UX08Z5FHWW6NMMTLWG
  • Story Text: France's Prime Minister pledged on Friday (July 15) to boost assistance to Ivory Coast, as it emerges from conflict, offering 3 billion euros of aid and enhanced defence cooperation, but he suggested that French companies should play a part in its reconstruction.
    Francois Fillon was speaking on a trip to the West African state, which is trying to recover from a four-month post-poll conflict that killed thousands and paralysed the economy.
    The crisis ended in April when rebels backed by French forces ousted former president Laurent Gbagbo, who had refused to step down when he lost a November election. The election was meant to reunite the country but which instead plunged it back into civil war.
    Fillon said Ivory Coast would get the aid and debt relief from mid-2012, on top of 400 million euros pledged to date, of which 350 million euros had been paid out.
    "We're going to engage in an unprecedented effort towards clearing debts and development, this contract, which will bring in 2 billion euros, we negotiated together. We will set-up a Ivorian-French mixt commission (France) decided to add 1 billion euros of debt relief," Fillon told journalists in a joint press conference with Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara.
    Franco-Ivorian relations have had their ups and downs over the years. Post independence leader Felix Houpouet-Boigny built close ties with its former colonial master, using French expertise to rapidly modernise his country. Relations hit a low under nationalist former president Gbagbo, after he fell out with its peacekeeping mission in 2004, killing nine French troops in an air raid. France retaliated by destroying Ivory Coast's airforce.
    But as Ouattara and Fillon smiled and exchanged pleasantries against their respective national flags at the entrance to the presidential palace, the animosity that has characterised relations between the two countries seemed a thing of the past.
    Heavily indebted Ivory Coast said this week it would not be able to service external debt this year and would only resume payments on its defaulted Eurobond from 2012.
    Some 40 percent of the country's 3 trillion CFA francs ($6,47 billion) post-conflict budget announced last month for the rest of the year will go on debt servicing.
    But there was a also suggestion that France would like to see French companies involved in rebuilding Ivory Coast.
    "I have come with a significant delegation of business leaders to enable French enterprise to renew cooperation with Ivory Coast. To allow French companies to invest in Ivory-Coast, there are immense needs in terms of infrastructure and French companies have the know how. They will need of course to be the best in a competition that is open'' Fillon said.
    However, Fillon was quick to add that he expected any contracts to be subject to competitive bids.
    "France does not want to be an exclusive partner in Ivory-Coast. That was another epoch, we wish to be the reference partners for Ivory-Coast and we'll make sure our companies are the most performing,'' he said.
    He also said France was in the process of renegotiating a defense accord. France has retained a military base in the main city Abidjan. Ouattara said he wanted to make Ivory Coast a "base for regional defense and security."
    The thawing of relations has lead some Ivorians, particularly those who embraced Gbagbo's fiery nationalism, to fear a new "La France-Afrique", a phrase used to disparage what many see as French neo-imperialism in Africa.
    "I am calling all those who continue to describe the relations between Africa and France as 'La France-Afrique' should change the record and change their software, this has nothing to do with today's reality," Fillon said.
    Before his departure, Fillon honoured the memory of four foreign nationals who were kidnapped from the hotel Novotel during intense fighting in the city to oust Gbagbo. The four civilians, including the French Novotel director, were taken from the hotel where around 30 journalists and foreign correspondents were shltering.
    Shortly after the war ended, Ivory Coast announced the four had been killed.
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