MAJURO — The French tri-color was an unusual flag waving in the breeze at the capital building here this month, a development that signaled more than just the visits of French Ambassador Jean-Pierre Vidon’s and a French naval frigate.
French aid is moving from nearly non-existent to becoming a significant developer of alternative energy in this central Pacific nation that, since World War II, has been an American sphere of influence.
France’s increasing-–though still modest–-level of aid coincides with the Marshall Islands joining the European Union as an Africa, Caribbean and Pacific partner country. France, said Vidon in an interview in Majuro, provides 23 percent of the EU’s aid funding and is a major exporter of alternative energy technology. The EU is heavily promoting alternative energy packages for its partner countries throughout the Pacific region.
France is not a “traditional” aid partner of the Marshall Islands, and visits by French officials tend to be few and far between. But at least for the next several years, the Marshall Islands will be experiencing a significantly expanded French aid “presence” in the country.
Vidon, who is based in Suva and represents France in six island nations, outlined the stepped-up French support for projects heavily focusing on alternative energy developments for remote outer islands in the Marshall Islands, including:
• The revitalization of 140 home solar units in Namdrik Atoll, which France is co-financing with the Australian government. This solar pilot project was originally funded by France in the early 1990s, but lack of upkeep rendered nearly all of the home solar units inoperable. Earlier this week, 200 batteries were transported from Namdrik to Majuro for disposal as part of the French-supported revitalization project.
• Funding the solarization of homes and community facilities on Mejit Island, a project that is estimated in cost at $150,000. Both Mejit and Namdrik have populations under 1,000 and no electrical power.
• A sub-regional feasibility study on renewable energy use in the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Nauru as part of French participation in the EU. The feasibility study, now in progress in the Marshall Islands with the assistance of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, could lead to further projects depending on EU participation and negotiations with the Marshall Islands on a funding package for the next five years.
Other projects that France is supporting include a book on the Marshall Islands written by Marshall Islanders that the University of the South Pacific in Suva is coordinating.
Vidon said that his government is also supporting the Waan Aelon in Majel (Canoes of the Marshall Islands) program, which trains young Marshall Islanders to build and sail traditional outrigger canoes.
