French Foreign Minister To Visit Ghana

(Paris, June 24, 2003) -- Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin will undertake a visit to South Africa and Ghana from June 26 to 28. The trip is one of a round of visits to countries holding the presidency of regional organizations (African Union in the case of South Africa, ECOWAS in Ghana's).

Mr. de Villepin will then go to Accra on June 28. This leg will be an opportunity to review the current crises in West Africa, especially in C?te d'Ivoire and Liberia, and to hail Ghana's peace efforts as current president of ECOWAS.

The minister will have a meeting with President John Kufuor and his counterpart, Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. These meetings will be an opportunity to highlight France's wish to intensify high-level political dialogue with Accra and to strengthen its economic and commercial presence in Ghana. May I remind you that the minister received his counterpart last month, during the visit by an ECOWAS delegation, and that President Kufuor attended the Africa-France summit in February.

The visit to South Africa will be an opportunity to take stock of the first year of life of the African Union and discuss the current conflicts, especially in the Great Lakes region, and the prospects for the development of NEPAD of which President Mbeki was one of the five initiators. Mr. de Villepin will have a working meeting with his counterpart, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. He will also have talks with President Thabo Mbeki and a private meeting with Nelson Mandela at his home.

Mr. de Villepin will also meet representatives from the private sector and South African intellectual and artistic circles, religious authorities from various communities and NGOs working in the township of Johannesburg.

On the eve of his trip Mr. de Villepin will hold a meeting at the CAP in the context of the Franco-South African forum for political dialogue which provides for annual consultations between ministers, secretary-generals and directors. The meeting will address African issues.