MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce that Australia and France have agreed to collaborate
on a number of new activities in the Pacific.
When I last visited France in September 1996, I made a commitment to ensure
greater cooperation between Australia and France in meeting the development
needs of Pacific island countries.
First, we will work together to provide technical assistance to Pacific
island countries through a regional renewable energy program. Australia and
France will both contribute to a program focussed on small-scale renewable
energy technologies, appropriate for communities in the Pacific. With the
agreement of the Pacific Community's membership, we envisage that this program
would be based at the Pacific Community headquarters in Noumea.
Second, we will increase cooperation between specialist agricultural,
scientific and natural resource management research institutions in Australia
and France. We hope that this will lead to joint and parallel research programs
involving the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR)
and two Noumea-based French institutions, CIRAD (Centre de Cooperation
Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Developpement) and ORSTOM
(Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique de l'Outre Mer).
Third, France and Australia will expand their cooperative activities to
support education in Pacific island countries. Australia will contribute up to
A$500 000 and France A$1.7 million toward the cost of building a hostel in
Noumea for ni-Vanuatu students studying in New Caledonia under French and
Australian scholarships.
Fourth, to support the broader needs of the region's youth, Australia and
France will each contribute A$60,000 to help fund a regional Youth Conference
sponsored by the Pacific Community and hosted by French Polynesia in Papeete in
1998.
Both Australia and France have strong ties with Pacific island countries.
Today's initiatives demonstrate a shared desire to build on already strong
collaborative efforts in order to improve the development prospects of Pacific
island countries.
Media contact: Innes Willox (Minister's office) 02 6277 7500
/ 0411 414 695 Geoff Adlide (AusAID) 02 6206 4967 / 0417 683
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