“Aravot” interviews Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Armenia, H.E. Mr. Jean-Francois Charpentier
– Mr. Ambassador, first of all, let us assess the Armenian-French developing and year-by-year growing close cooperation in different spheres, the regular political dialogue in recent years, high-level mutual visits and contacts, and the cooperation in parliamentary and multilateral formats, the cultural and educational active ties. What are the achievements and expectations for the future?
– There is a full political dialogue between our countries. This year, two members of the French government have visited Armenia: Minister of State for Development and Francophony Mrs. Annick Girardin and Secretary of State for European Affairs, Harlem Désir. The RA Minister of Foreign Affairs had two meetings this year in Paris with his partner and Mr. Désir. On the occasion of the NATO summit, Sargsyan and Hollande met in Warsaw. The parliamentary ties are dynamic. Eventually, in the framework of decentralized cooperation, numerous representatives of the local government entities have also visited Armenia this year. I mean Heads of General Councils of Bouches-du-Rhône and Hauts-de-Seine departments Mr. and Mrs. Devedjian and Mrs. Vassalli, and of course, Paris Mayor Mrs. Anne Hidalgo. New visits for the first half of 2017 are pending. A few days ago, “Air France” airline celebrated its ten-year anniversary of the Yerevan-Paris flight and the flights are constantly in demand.
– This year, the 15th anniversary of the founding of the French University in Armenia was marked. How many graduates has the university? How many of them are working by professions? How many of them continue to study or have found a job in France? Which are the main achievements of the University, in general?
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– Today, the French University in Armenia has about 1500 graduates. In average, 200 people per year of which two-thirds with bachelor and one-third with master’s degree. Those who continue to study for the Master’s degree make 72.2%. This is a significant indicator for Armenia highlighting the value of teaching. In research for 2005-2015 curriculum years showed that 80% of the graduates work by their specialty of which 90% in Armenia. Moreover, they quickly find a job in the labor market.
The 65% of the graduates find a job right a month later after the graduation from the university. After the education, the number of job seekers is only 7.4 percent. The 60% of graduates is working in the services, public service, banking, insurance sectors and very quickly assume responsible positions, including in the government staff. The main achievement of University is stability and activities. The University has been fully involved in the Armenian university panorama and is considered an education center of the advanced experience. It has many advantages: a double diploma issued by the University of Lyon-3, multilingualism – high quality of French teaching. Today, its perspectives are aimed at the development of scientific research activities and international attractiveness, a program aimed at seeking new edges of partnership with Iran, Russia, and even remote China is in the process.
– What economic projects are the governments of Armenia and France implementing? Do you consider the level of economic cooperation sufficient? What are the projects to expand the cooperation in this industry? What is the volume of investments from France? Interestingly, does Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union influence the level of Armenian-French cooperation in the field?
– French-Armenian economic relations cover many areas. The first is the area of the development embodied by the French Development Agency (AFD). The agency is expanding its activities in Armenia. Since 2013, no less than 127 million euros loan was invested in Armenia for the construction of Vedi reservoir. Recently, AFD provides a loan of EUR 40 million to Armenia. Its subsidiary Proparco signed an agreement with America Bank on a privileged loan of EUR 20 million aimed at financing the private sector (agribusiness, energy efficiency, health care and education). Thanks to AFD, France is one of the most important countries providing loans to Armenia. The second area is the investment. France is number two foreign investor in Armenia after Russia.
I have to admit that the closure of Orange left a bad impression on potential investors. On November 17, the Lease Contract on Water Supply and Wastewater systems of Armenia signed by Veolia Environment S.A. for 10 years and worth of 800 million euros is a positive impetus for the business community. The third – trade-economic relations area is bleak: annual trade turnover of 1.4% or 59.8 million euros. In this respect, there is a wide opportunity for advancement. Armenia has recently accessed the Eurasian Economic Union to say that it has affected the trade and economic relations between our countries. It looks like it has not encouraged and with the exception of some customs issues nor has hindered. We wish the enterprises are interested in larger and bigger market opportunities. We are working that the French companies operating in Russia are closely interested in the Armenian market.
– Armenia and the European Union will finalize the negotiations on the new framework agreement next year and will be ready to sign it. Official Yerevan announces that both Armenia and the EU want this new framework agreement between Armenia and the EU to fully mirror the quality, depth and scope of the relations that we have with the EU. However, if further specifying, what steps does the EU expect from the RA authorities? Which spheres should undergo reforms? What will the EU offer for Armenia’s development?
– Initially, in the EU membership, France has fought for signing an ambitious future framework agreement with Armenia which would meet Armenia’s accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. We believe that Armenia and the EU have many common values. We need to deepen the dialogue about our policy and security on this common ground, to develop our trade relations and sectoral cooperation in various fields to the range of possibility. Armenia’s membership to Horizon-2020 program opens interesting opportunities for cooperation for us in the field of research.
Armenia must get the use of the Erasmus Plus and the Creative Europe programs with its membership to develop the cooperation in educational and cultural spheres. The EU is the substantial structure providing loans aimed at assisting the governance and private sector in Armenia and reforms in public administration. We hope that it will contribute to the improvement of agriculture, e-governance, education, the private sector, business environment and the reforms in the independence of the judiciary system and fight against corruption. Here are the keys to the modernization and development of Armenia. Politically, we believe with other international actors that the EU can support Armenia to strengthen the civil society as the basis for any democratic development and human rights situation.
– The Francophonie Days are celebrated in Armenia every year. How will you assess the cooperation between the governments of Armenia and France in this sector? Lately, the session of the Foreign Ministers of the International Francophone Organization was held. What are the outcomes and plans?
– The Francophonie Days are one of the aspects enjoying the great popularity of this cooperation. Nevertheless, the promotion of cultures of the French and Francophone countries occurs through many projects which I have referred during my recent meetings with government officials. The first area where we can strengthen our partnership, indeed, is the teaching of the French language. We have many institutions: a French school, Alliance Francaise, Armenian-French vocational college, advanced French classes whose authority and activities need to be raised and strengthened in support of the Armenians authorities. However, the dissemination of the Francophonie passes also with the flexibility of Francophonie mass media (like TV5 Monde), the presence of French language in everyday life (signboards in the museums and tourist areas) or by the demand of the Armenian society on modern Francophone cinema and music.
As a full member of Francophonie International Organization, Armenia has a role beyond the borders of France and in promoting the presence of such language-cultural presence related to 274 million Francophones approved in five continents. On November 25-26, this year, in Antananarivo, the 16th summit of la Francophonie was held. It was focused more on the discussion of youth, by involving 200 young people from all member countries of the organization in its activities. This is the best signal of the will to handover the turn to the young generation and the dynamics of the structure. In the international institutions, in the period of 2006-2016, as a result of the report to resume the French language, the member states applied to undertake more decisive measures in defense of the French language. I welcome the Armenians diplomats and functionaries for the instruction issued by Armenia to use French in international instances
Nevertheless, still, there are efforts to be used in many areas. Indeed, I welcome the decision to trust Armenia to organize the Francophonie Summit of member countries’ state and government leaders of the International Francophone Organization in 2018 in Yerevan. Given the overall success of the 31st Ministerial Conference of La Francophonie held in Yerevan on October 2015, I am sure that Armenia’s authorities and the people will fully assume this great responsibility and in this sense, will reaffirm their commitment in favor of Francophone values system and the French language used in five continents. Incidentally, I hope that this summit, especially thru TV5, will support to the strengthening of the French language in Armenia.
– How does France as an OSCE Minsk Group co-chairing states assess the current negotiation phase of the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement? Why was the meeting in Paris not organized by the format of the presidents about which information was circulating for quite some time? Azerbaijan rejects the demand of the mediators to introduce a mechanism to investigate the armed incidents which is an evidence of the fact that Baku does not exclude the resumption of hostilities. In this situation, how do you visualize the maintenance of agreements in the peace process if there is no guarantee that the hostilities will not be repeated?
– Over twenty years, the Minsk Group co-chairs have constantly presented the conflicting parties offers for the peaceful settlement based on the fundamental principles of the international law. France like Russia and the United States has not spared efforts to bring the parties back to the diplomatic dynamics after the “four-day war.” Recently, the French Foreign Minister has met with the foreign ministers of the two countries in Vienna and St. Petersburg to fulfill the proposed confidence mechanism and to begin the process of comprehensive settlement of the conflict. The newly appointed OSCE Minsk Group French co-chair, Stephane Visconti, continues the active consultations. He will visit Armenia soon. However, for the advancement of the dialogue, the parties must demonstrate a spirit of reconciliation and be ready for the fulfillment of the assumed commitments. France has always expressed its willingness to accept the parties at a high level like in the case of the Paris Summit in October 2014 but such meetings should be useful and produce results.
EMMA GABRIELYAN
