Karachi Pakistan: It’s a great pleasure and honor for me, as the Consul General of France in Karachi and the representative of the French Government in both provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan, to address this distinguished audience tonight as we celebrate together the French National Day on 14th of July, also called Bastille Day. On that day, which is at the same time as our Armed Forces Day, the President of the Republic and the whole of the French Government traditionally attend a military parade on the world’s most beautiful avenue, the Champs Elysées in Paris, while French people take pride in the unity and strength of their nation.
Having been appointed less than a year ago, in August 2022, by the French President Macron to serve as a Consul General in Karachi, this is the first time I have had the opportunity of welcoming you all to this Bastille Day celebration. Please allow me to thank you all for attending this reception tonight: it is indeed heartening to see how many friends my country, France, has in this city, coming from all walks of life and all kinds of different backgrounds.
Before we move towards the lawn and enjoy the music and the buffet we have some fine French & Pakistani dishes prepared by the Beach Luxury Chef Khawaja Muhammad and some fine fresh French cheese as well (as you know, the French always have cheese not as a starter, but after the main course, before or instead of desserts, but you may have both tonight, including the famous Crepes Suzette), so before we move on, please allow me to say 3 things that I deem important: France is Pakistan’s old and trusted partner Friendship between our nations is almost as old as Pakistan itself, France being the first non-muslim nation to recognize Pakistan’s independence and to establish diplomatic relations, through opening an Embassy here in Karachi, 75 years ago. I would like to mention as well as the creation, 69 years ago, of Alliance Francoise de Karachi, a Pakistani-French institution that is, by virtue of its very existence, a testimony of the enduring friendship of our people. It is, by the way, the oldest among Cultural and Language Learning Centers existing in Pakistan. Please allow me to pay tribute to its current Chairperson, Mrs. Muna Sidiqui, who is with us tonight, together with all her staff and our French Language teachers. We definitely look forward to further developing Alliance Francoise’s activities in Karachi, in close partnership with our German friends from the Goethe Institute, whose Director Mrs Simone Lenz is also with us tonight.
Over the last 75 years, French Pakistani bilateral cooperation has been growing at times at a very rapid pace: I am old enough to remember the days, not so long ago when Pakistan Air Force was flying, Mirage, fighter jets, and Pakistan Army was using Alouette and Puma, helicopters, while the French naval engineers had come to Karachi in order to help Pakistan Navy building the Agosta submarines.
It was at the same time, prior to 9/11 when Karachi’s International Airport terminal (still in good shape, by the way) was being built by a French company (SOGEA), and we have had so many French businesses represented here, with a large community of French expats living in Karachi with their families. Since then, the world has changed dramatically, sometimes for worse, sometimes for better.
Unsurprisingly, there have been ups and downs in our relations (as is always the case in life). But we still have a French community that continues living here and we still have French companies doing business in or with Pakistan. Throughout the years, they demonstrated resilience – and they proved to be right.
The good news is that we are now rebuilding the relationship, step by step.
Some people say that you get to know your friends when in need.
This was proved true once again last year, as Pakistan experienced unprecedented, catastrophic floods, that affected first and foremost the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan. France almost immediately provided emergency relief for flood-affected areas, with the first rescuers from France landing in Karachi at the end of August, and others arriving in September and October. They brought much-needed water pumps, as well as equipment for massive water sensitization. In addition to those first rescuers, we’ve also sent aid workers from French NGOs who are still working there, as we speak, valuable work in the field in Northern Sindh, with financial support from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the European Union. Their main focus was on access to clean water and sanitary issues. And very soon, we plan to inaugurate a bridge near Lasbela, Baluchistan (some 100 km away from here), to replace the so-called Lunda bridge, destroyed during the floods. The new bridge has already arrived in Pakistan – and will be a gift from the Government of France to the people of Pakistan.
Against this backdrop, we witnessed an intensification of bilateral contacts over the past 12 months, both at the level of Minister of Foreign Affairs Bilawal Zardari-Bhutto, who has been making frequent contact, over the phone or otherwise, with his counterpart Mrs Catherine Colonna; and at the level of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who met with President Macron twice: first in September 2022 while at UN General Assembly in New York, where the French President expressed full solidarity with Pakistan and his willingness to help; and then again as recently as last month (on 21st June), as the Pakistani Prime Minister was participating in the Summit for a New Financial Pact in Paris.
This means that we have now fully restored a political dialogue that goes far beyond disaster relief and encompasses discussions on the need to combat climate change and its consequences, discussing security challenges, but also ways of easing financial constraints on developing countries like Pakistan.
Turning now to economic relations: it has been a challenging year for Pakistan, and a challenging year for French businesses in Pakistan, but it looks like we are finally beginning to see the light I will not elaborate on Pakistan’s macro-economic situation or on discussions with IMF. We are relieved that default has been avoided, that’s certainly another very good news. But still, there have been a lot of constraints imposed on Foreign and Pakistani companies alike, so we now hope that, as the foreign exchange reserves situation normalizes, those constraints will gradually be eased. This is vitally important for Pakistan’s successful integration into the world economy and into world trade. We know this pretty well here in Karachi, this city being not only a big port but in essence the Gateway to Pakistan: almost everything that gets imported to or exported from Pakistan goes through Karachi. To take another image, if Pakistan is the body, Karachi is the heart.
The other good news is that bilateral trade is growing year by year, with Pakistani exporters benefitting from enhanced access to the European market (through GSP+) and France being one of the main destinations for Pakistani exports (mainly textile, with GulAhmed being one of the main Pakistani exporters to France; but also notably pharmaceuticals, with Martin Dow being now present in France as a Foreign investor). At the same time, French exports to Pakistan continue to grow (electrical appliances, food, grain, perfumes, cosmetics, spare parts for the car industry), thanks to the presence of French businesses here: CMA/CGM from Marseille, they are now the n°3 shipping company in the world; Bolloré and CEVA Logistics providing excellent transportation services; Schneider Electric a well-known French company with a long-time presence on the Pakistani market; L’Oréal a world leader on the beauty market, employing hundreds of people here in Pakistan; the joint-venture TOTAL/Parco owner of more than 750 petrol stations across Pakistan and the LU biscuits, that are being produced here in Sukkur, Sindh. I take this opportunity to thank all of the above-mentioned companies for being with us tonight – and for supporting our event.
Let me just underline one of our brightest and latest success stories: you will see here tonight on display, on the Beach Luxury’s lawn, a very fancy French car it’s a Peugeot 2008, one of the 3000+ vehicles of that kind “made in Pakistan”, that have been assembled here in Karachi at the Lucky Motor plant since February 2022. This compact, elegant SUV has already, in little more than a year, captured roughly 10 % of the SUV market, and the plan is to capture 10 % of the overall Pakistani market 5 years from now. I have no doubt that this can be achieved since we have seen Peugeot capturing up to 50% of the overall market in some of the neighboring countries close to Pakistan. No surprise, since these are excellent cars: by the way, I am myself the lucky owner of a Peugeot that I have been using for the last 22 years; it is still in perfect condition and giving me intense driving pleasure.
I have no doubt that Pakistan has a bright future and that French companies and businesses will be able to make the most of arising opportunities, both here in Sindh and in neighboring Baluchistan (where we now have, since last year, an Honorary Consul, Mr. Nawabzada Sayfullah Khan Magsi: dear Sayf, thank you for being with us tonight!)
Last but not least, I would like to briefly, I promise touch upon our cooperation in Education and Culture.
France and Pakistan have enjoyed cooperating for over 60 years now in the field of Archeology, with French archeologists excavating thousands of artifacts across Baluchistan and Sindh. This is about helping you know more about your heritage the Indus Valley civilization and making it known to the world. We are proud of these achievements and intend to continue this cooperation in the future.
I am not going to mention all the other cooperation that we have in the cultural field, but I would like to single out our very successful cooperation with the Agha Khan Foundation, whereby the Agence Française de Développement has been supporting ongoing restoration work at the Lahore Fort (I know this is a bit far from here, but it is important I think for all Pakistanis). This cooperation actually goes far beyond the preservation of cultural heritage, since as you well know, Agha Khan also has renowned medical and higher-education institutions, like the AKUH here in Karachi, and we are proud to cooperate with these, including sometimes outside of Pakistan. Health is of primary importance to all human beings, while Education is key to our future. I very much hope that we will succeed in attracting more and more talented Pakistani students to come and study in France at our elite higher education institutions.
During the month of May, we held a very successful French Alumni Day at the Alliance Française in Karachi, but I realize that still, too few young Pakistanis are aware that they can study in France virtually for free (since our tuition fees are just a tiny fraction of what they would have to pay for a similar degree in the US, UK or Canada).
While it is possible to study in English at some French Universities or World Class Business schools (like INSEAD), knowing French is certainly an advantage and will allow you to broaden the array of choices. Learning French in advance is possible in Karachi, I already mentioned the Alliance française in Karachi, which makes it easy and affordable to all: just take advantage, you may register right here tonight as we have a dedicated Alliance Française stand on the lawn, where you will be provided you with all necessary information.
I wouldn’t have exhausted to subject (hopefully not the audience) if I wouldn’t mention Tourism, especially since it is now Summertime. Year after year, France remains the n°1 destination for tourism in the world, attracting close to 100 million visitors a year (after the pandemic, we are now back to previous levels). Being just back from a week in Nice and the Côte d’Azur, I can tell you that there are very good reasons for that: excellent food (not to mention French wines), beautiful landscape, fantastic beaches, well-preserved cultural heritage, business, and educational opportunities.
So, we have a surprise for you: we will have (later on in the evening) a lucky draw, thanks to our friends from Qatar Airways, who are increasing the number of destinations in France from 2 to 4: in addition to Paris and Nice, they are adding Lyon (the former “capital of Gallia” and world capital of gastronomy) and Toulouse (one of the oldest University towns in France and also home to the Airbus: that where they are produced!). So there will be a lucky winner of one business-class return ticket to one of these 4 destinations in France (he/she will have to choose!).
Thank you very much for your attention and I wish you enjoy the evening.
