Joint Press Conference of the President of the Republic and the Emir of Qatar

MIL OSI Translation. Government of the Republic of France statements from English to French – Published July 07, 2018

Ladies and gentlemen,

Your Highness,

I am happy to have once again welcomed his Highness, the Emir of Qatar, during his stay in Paris, as part of an important official visit.

You have already, Altesse, used your first moments in France to go to the base of Mont-de-Marsan, where the Qatari Rafale squadron trains. This visit illustrates the strength of the relationship between our two countries.

Qatar is for France a friendly country and a reliable partner, with which we act decisively against terrorism and for peace and stability, particularly in North Africa and the Middle East. But Qatar is also an ambitious player who wants to help shape the world of tomorrow, a more connected, more open, safer world. In this, I can definitely say that our two countries are close.

During our meeting and our working lunch, we spoke first of all about the fight against terrorism, its financing and radicalization. We are continuing our exchanges last year, when I went to Doha in December.

On this occasion, France and Qatar had signed a declaration of intent on the fight against terrorism, its financing and radicalization which establishes the roadmap for joint actions. We have already started to work in accordance with this roadmap.

I agree – you know it – extremely important to its follow – up. Qatar was also present at the Conference on Combating the Financing of Terrorism, convened in Paris on April 26, to increase the supervision of banking and non-banking financial circuits, as well as individual donations or under cover charitable activities.

France therefore takes note of Qatar's efforts in this area. They are concrete. You committed yourself last December. We were able to work, our services could work together. First concrete elements could be brought to light. Our wish is to continue on this path. It involves mobilizing all our services and all our skills to dry up the various types of financing that terrorist groups can still benefit from.

To obtain decisive results on these subjects, we have a solid framework, since the strategic dialogue between France and Qatar will now be conducted under the aegis of our Foreign Ministers, with the aim of facilitating exchanges, decision-making on the most sensitive topics, so that there is no complacency, no false pretense and a permanent and real-time exchange of all sensitive information.

Our desire is to work together for peace and security. At the regional level, security implies unity. That is why I reaffirmed France's support for the mediation of the Emir of Kuwait in the context of the crisis between Qatar and its Gulf brothers.

The Qatari suffer daily from the consequences of the measures taken, families are separated because of the current crisis. This crisis – we were able to discuss it – must be resolved through dialogue. Regional stability is at stake, in a context marked by increasing tensions. The stability of many regions where these tensions are sometimes exported is at stake.

France will therefore continue, as we did last year and as I have been doing in recent months, to speak to all parties and invite dialogue, moderation and reconciliation.

We were also able to discuss during our lunch several regional topics, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, the peace process in Palestine or Libya. On this last topic which is a priority for us, I hope that our two countries will work together on the deadlines that will be crucial for its future: the adoption of a strong constitutional base and the organization of elections in Libya by the end of the year and the unification of civil and military institutions. Once again, we decided to increase our cooperation.

Beyond the security aspects, the relationship between France and Qatar is based on the common desire to deepen our bilateral cooperation, be it economic, cultural or sports. In this respect, His Highness the Emir of Qatar has informed me of his country's wish to make new investments in France in value-creating sectors and its objectives are consistent with our desire to promote the value of our products. innovation, French know-how in all fields. We also have agri-food projects that we really care about.

In sport and higher education, we want to deepen existing joint programs and create new ones. In particular, France and Qatar have the ambition to develop exemplary cooperation in the field of sport, especially in view of the major events of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the Olympic Games in Paris. in 2024.

I want to emphasize this point because sport contributes to the development of territories, to technological innovation, to the education of our youth and to the inclusion of all citizens.

You are already invested in many ways in the sport, whether professional or amateur and I thank you. Even if sometimes we do not have the same enthusiasms for the matches of the French championship. But I close this friendly parenthesis. I know that you will support in a few moments the Team of France, at the World Cup.

Your commitment to the French sport is for us very precious and is a chance for France. You have to know and be able to say it. We are working on an ambitious roadmap that will guide our work for years to come. INSEP and its Qatari partner ASPIRE are at the forefront to implement it.

Allow me, finally, ladies and gentlemen, to conclude on the common commitment of our two countries to the values ​​of La Francophonie. You are, Altesse, like many of your compatriots, an excellent francophone. I measure it every time and I want to thank you for it. I had the opportunity to constantly enjoy it.

La Francophonie is not only words, but also shared values. I hope that your vision for your country is fully reflected and I thank you for this commitment.

Here, ladies and gentlemen, Your Highness, what I wanted to say at the end of this meeting and this working lunch, by thanking again the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim, to be present in Paris on this day.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article is a translation. Please accept our apologies should the grammar and / or sentence structure not be perfect.