Daily press briefing by Ministry Deputy Spokesperson

AFGHANISTAN/10 FRENCH SOLDIERS WITH ISAF KILLED IN ACTION

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Q. - What information do you have about the fighting involving French soldiers in Afghanistan? Is the figure of ten French soldiers killed in an ambush in Afghanistan confirmed? Does France think the Taliban are getting help from certain fringe elements in Pakistani intelligence services…?

I’ve just read the statement made by the Minister who will be holding a press briefing in Brussels shortly.

I suggest you contact the Defence Ministry for the operational details.

Q. - Can you tell us about the French command of NATO forces in Afghanistan?

Do you see a connection between taking command and the ambush of the French unit?

France has taken responsibility for the Regional Command Capital since this August, for a year, taking over from Italy.

Taking command attests to France’s resolve to take her full part in the Alliance’s effort in Afghanistan.

A special ministerial meeting of NATO was convened today to deal with the crisis in Georgia. It is still going on and I don’t know at this time if the latest developments in the situation in Afghanistan have been discussed or not.

GEORGIA/EXCHANGE OF RUSSIAN AND GEORGIAN PRISONERS/FRENCH MEDIATION

This morning Russia and Georgia signed the protocol of an agreement on a prisoner-of-war exchange, brokered by the French ambassador to Georgia, Eric Fournier. Our ambassador also signed the text.

Following the signing, the two parties proceeded at 10.15 a.m. to exchange prisoners in the city of Igoeti - 15 Georgians and 5 Russians who will return to their country on a voluntary basis. In addition to our ambassador the ICRC was present.

France welcomes this exchange of prisoners and hopes that the agreement can be applied to persons who may still be held prisoner in the wake of this conflict.

GEORGIA/IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SETTLEMENT

A working meeting under the auspices of the French EU presidency was held at the Quai d’Orsay yesterday with representatives of the Council Secretariat General and Commission in order to study the options for strengthening the European Union presence in Georgia.

Several measures were examined: in the very short term, strengthening the assets available in Georgia to the EU Special Representative for the Caucasus, Peter Semneby, and increasing the European component of the OSCE observer team in South Ossetia. Later on, the modalities will have to be defined for a possible civilian ESDP mission. All these measures will be discussed by the 27 today at a meeting at COPS level.

A meeting of representatives of the French presidency, the OSCE presidency, the Council Secretariat General, the European Commission and the United Nations will also be held in Brussels this afternoon in order to coordinate the actions undertaken in these various bodies to contribute to the implementation of the settlement.

GEORGIA/FRENCH HUMANITARIAN AID

French aid to the civilian victims of the conflict in Georgia is continuing.

After dispatching three planes with emergency relief supplies last week, France sent an evaluator, a colonel in the fire department, to Tbilisi on Saturday with a four-member civil security team provided by EU countries. This team, set up by the EU monitoring and information centre (MIC), will make proposals for directing the humanitarian aid of the 27 members.

French NGOs are also continuing to help on the ground in liaison with our embassy in Tbilisi.

The NGO "Première Urgence" is continuing to distribute supplies sent by France. It has distributed blankets and cots to people living in the displaced persons camp set up by the Georgian government near the airport for Tbilisi. "Première Urgence" is also distributing this same day French relief supplies in the city of Gori.

On Saturday the NGO Télécoms Sans Frontières began its first humanitarian telephone operations in Tbilisi so people who’ve been displaced from their homes by the fighting can get in touch with loved ones. Already over 200 families fleeing the shelling in South Ossetia and Gori to take refuge in the Georgian capital have been able to contact their families. These operations are continuing today at locations in the camps set up either at Tbilisi airport or in schools that have been specially equipped.

The total amount of French relief, which was among the first to arrive, is €1 million at this time.

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CHINA/CLIMATE CHANGE

A meeting of the bilateral EU-China consultation mechanism for climate change was held at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs on 18 August, in the context of the partnership between the EU and China on climate change, launched in 2005. The working meeting was attended by the European Commission and the future Czech presidency of the EU.

The delegations were chaired by Brice Lalonde, special ambassador for the global warming talks, and Qingtai Yu, special representative of the People’s Republic of China for the global warming talks. The two delegations presented the latest development of their policy on fighting climate change and discussed deepening their cooperation in the face of this global challenge ahead of the forthcoming EU-China summit to be held in Lyon on 1 December.

They also reviewed developments in international negotiations just before the meeting of Parties to the Climate Convention, which will be held in Accra from 21 to 27 August, and ahead of the Conference of the Parties in Poznan on 1 December. (…)./.