Puducherry: French Ambassador to India Jerome
Bonnafont on Tuesday said fight against terrorism is one of the
major areas of cooperation between the two countries.
"Fight against terrorism is one of the main subjects of
our political cooperation with India," he told reporters here.
France had worked with India and all members of the UN at
12 international conventions to check terrorism.
"The work during the last 10 years had completely changed
the international legal landscape in this respect. Now, nobody
in the world can pretend that terrorism can be justified for
any political reason," he said.
Bonnafont said the French presence in Afghanistan has
started after the 9/11 attack to eradicate terrorism from that
country.
"The reason why French armed forces are still in
Afghanistan is that Afghan government and international
community have agreed that our presence is useful and
necessary for establishing peace, stability and for economic
development in the region," he said.
He said after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, France was among
the first countries to condemn the terror strike. "France had
also said that justice had to be made as such attacks are
unacceptable".
Bonnafont said that those who carried out the attacks
should be brought to justice at any cost.
On the decision for the closure of UNDP regional office
in Colombo, he said "we have said that it is important that
the UN is able to operate freely in Sri Lanka as per its
mandate..."
He said "serene dialogue between Sri Lanka and the UN is
important so that things can settle as quickly as possible".
PTI
