PAPEETE (Tahitipresse/PINA) — France’s new minister for overseas territories, Brigitte Girardin, said the government will keep on providing funds to French Polynesia to foster economic growth.
Girardin said: “France cares about Tahiti. It seems obvious to me that French Polynesia should benefit from the nation’s aid. President Jacques Chirac has said the economic restructuring fund will continue. No deadline will be set.”
The economic restructuring fund was created by France in 1996 after the end of its nuclear testing program in Moruroa, of the Tuamotu archipelago. The nuclear testing had pumped many millions of dollars into the local economy, and created many jobs.
The economic restructuring fund was to last only 10 years under the original agreement.
Girardin added that she “had no problems” with a new statute for French Polynesia. “The autonomy of French Polynesia will be strengthened and we will work on this issue very soon,” she said.
French Polynesia’s President Gaston Flosse and French Polynesian voters gave Chirac strong support in the recent French presidential elections.
Flosse had wanted a new statute, called the POM, or “overseas country” statute, to be implemented since 1999.
This statute will give more powers to the government of French Polynesia in fields like immigration control.
Girardin said: “I am glad to be back in this ministry that I know well. I believe that I know well the problems for overseas territories but I also feel that I still have a lot to learn.”
Girardin, 48, started working in the administration at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. She was then chief of staff and adviser for Dominique Perben and Jean-Jacques De Peretti, who were overseas territories ministers from 1993 to 1997.
