French Foreign Ministry announces support for the interim government

Laurent Fabius, French Foreign Minister, announced that his country will donate ten million euros to the Common Trust Fund to rebuild Syria, and expressed his continued support for the Syrian Coalition and the interim government, and France’s willingness to assist the government in many sectors, including local administration, energy, health, water and food security, and management. The French official’s statement came during a meeting with Ahmad Tomah, President of the interim government yesterday during a visit to Paris, which included a series of meetings conducted in the framework of his first official visit to France. The French Minister hailed the interim government’s efforts to restructure the Free Syrian Army and activate the role of the police in the liberated areas in order to achieve the security of citizens. The French Foreign Minister also highlighted the importance of Geneva and stressed that there is no role for Assad in Syria’s future nor in leading the transitional phase. The latest statements by the Assad regime’s officials were all centered on that Assad will lead the transitional process, which is inconsistent with the purpose of Geneva 2. The meeting with the French Foreign Minister was followed by a meeting between the Syrian ministerial delegation with a large group of French representatives of ministries, agencies, boards and municipalities. After an-hour-and-a-half general discussion, the attendees split into two workshops. The first was an economic workshop attended by Ibrahim Miro, Minister of Finance and Economy and Elias Warda, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources. The second workshop was specialized in local administration and refugees affairs, and was attended by the Prime Minister and Osman Bedaiwi, Minister of Local Administration and Relief and Refugees on the Syrian side. The ministerial delegation also met with the President the French Development Agency. The delegation opened their meetings in Paris yesterday morning by meeting with Ms. Elizabeth Guigou, head of the Foreign Relations Committee in the French parliament. (Source: Syrian Coalition)