France will commit around R2-billion to South Africa for development in infrastructure, productivity and environment and energy, French Minister for Co-operation and Development Brigitte Girardin said on Tuesday.
Girardin announced this in Johannesburg after meetings with President Thabo Mbeki and Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma.
”This aid would be channelled through the French Development Agency and would amount to €100-million [about R750-million] for each sector.”
She added that France would continue to contribute money to the fight against HIV/Aids, saying that plans to generate more funds for HIV/Aids medicines to be delivered to Africa would come through ”a tax on plane tickets in France”.
Girardin commented on the peace processes in the Côte d’Ivoire and said voter registration needed to be urgently undertaken in order for elections to happen in October.
This would lead to ”natural” disarmament which would translate into peaceful co-operation between citizens and the government.
Girardin said there was no divergence of views over the Côte d’Ivoire peace process.
”I meet minister Dlamini-Zuma every month in Abidjan because we are both on the International Working Group and I have come to appreciate her role in the Ivorian peace process. The ministerial groups of four countries, amongst them France and South Africa, are represented by women and I believe that women have an important role to play in peace in Africa because women are more pragmatic.”
Girardin said France and South Africa agreed on the role of a European Union force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during the elections.
”There are enormous obstacles but there is great enthusiasm amongst the population for the election and they may not be disappointed. The elections must not be delayed,” she said. – Sapa