French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday, as the Greek government tries to persuade backbench rebels to back a crucial austerity plan to avert bankruptcy.
The best way to cool soaring food prices is to boost output, the Argentine government said, following talks on a French proposal for increased regulation of commodity markets in the framework of a G20 meeting in Buenos Aires.
European leaders raced Saturday to nominate a successor for fallen IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn before a G8 summit in France next week, with French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde in pole position.
UK Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox played host on Tuesday to his French counterpart in London to exchange the ratified Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty between the two countries.
The tail section of an Air France plane which crashed over the Atlantic in 2009 has been found on the ocean floor, relatives of those killed have said. Investigators had told them the section was “relatively intact”, they added.
Ireland, supported by France keeps putting pressure to derail the ongoing trade talks between the European Union commission and Mercosur, reports the Dublin press.
Chile and France on Saturday signed a deal promoting the exploration and development of uranium. The deal between the state-owned Codelco (copper mining company) formalizes France’s ability to source minerals, including uranium, from Chile’s mining sector.
Argentina has appointed economist Aldo Ferrer (84) ambassador to France. The decision was confirmed by the decree 180/2011 which was signed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, on February 22.
Brazil reiterated opposition to a French plan to impose regulation on commodity prices, saying it could have negative effects on major suppliers such as itself. Brazil is totally opposed to a mechanism of control or regulation of commodity prices, Finance Minister Guido Mantega told reporters, reiterating a position he gave last week.
France warned Tuesday that it is following closely European Union/Mercosur trade talks to ensure that farmers from both blocks are strictly subjected to the same rules.