Franco-British defence cooperation - Communiqué issued by the Ministry of Defence, Paris 18.01.2002
The Chief of Defence Staff, General Jean-Pierre Kelche, and his British counterpart, Admiral Sir Michael Boyce, met on 17 and 18 January. The visit falls within the framework of Franco-British cooperation, closer today than ever before.
Indeed it is the same solidarity and unity of approach which led the two nations to participate in the anti-terrorist coalition.
France is contributing a contingent of 500 soldiers to the International Security Assistance Force [in Afghanistan], made up of 4,500 men and placed under British command.
This cooperation, which is also clearly proving highly effective in other theatres such as the Balkans, where France has taken over command of KFOR comprising 38,000 men, has triggered some exemplary progress in the building of Defence Europe.
This was the context for the two-day visit as the Chiefs of Defence Staff also talked about other spheres of possible cooperation. They went to Creil where they visited the Joint Planning Staff and Joint Centre for Training in Satellite Image Interpretation. During a visit to Brittany on 18 January, they met a special forces unit and members of the Rafale squadron, part of which is currently serving on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle.
This visit, one of a series of regular exchanges with General Kelche, was the first to Paris for Sir Michael Boyce in his capacity as UK Chief of Defence Staff. It reaffirmed solidarity between the two countries’ armed forces./.