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ILO Director-General on official visit to France

GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia, is to make an official visit to France on 19-20 September during which time he will meet with French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Minister of Labour François Fillon and worker and employer representatives.

Press release | 17 September 2002

GENEVA (ILO News) - The Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia, is to make an official visit to France on 19-20 September during which time he will meet with French President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the Minister of Labour François Fillon and worker and employer representatives.

Mr. Somavia will meet President Chirac on Friday, 20 September at the Palais de l'Elysée. The ILO Director-General last met Mr. Chirac during the signing in May 1999 of a first framework agreement on cooperation between France and the ILO. Among other items, Mr. Somavia and the French President are expected to discuss the growing participation of France in ILO technical cooperation programmes and the social dimension of the globalization.

In the 1999 framework agreement, France pledged "to develop a technical cooperation programme based on the objectives of the ILO 'decent work' agenda, namely reducing inequities, encouraging a united world, promoting globalization with a human face, and allowing each individual to enjoy a decent life". France has committed 17 million Euros in extra-budgetary funds to technical assistance for 2002-2004, ranking it as the sixth ILO member State in terms of contributions to technical programmes.

Mr. Somavia will meet Mr. Raffarin on Thursday, 19 September at his offices in the Matignon Hotel. In the afternoon, he will meet with François Fillon, Minister of Social Affairs, Labour and Solidarity at the Cabinet of the ministry in the Hôtel du Châtelet, followed by a visit to Denis Gautier Sauvagnac, Vice-president of MEDEF (a French Employers' Association), and Bernard Boisson, counsellor to the MEDEF's President and an employer representative to the ILO Governing Body.

On the 20 th of September, Mr. Somavia will meet Marc Blondel, Secretary-General of the trade union "Force ouvrière" and a worker delegate to the ILO Governing Body.

For further information, please contact:

- In Paris, Anne Guesdon, in charge of communication at the ILO Office in France.
Tel: +331/4568-3250. E-mail: guesdon@ilo.org,
or Zohreh Tabatabai, Director, ILO Department of Communication, +4122/799-7912.

- In Geneva, François Charlier, ILO Information Officer. Tel: +4122/799-8506.
Fax: +4122/799-8577. E-mail: charlier@ilo.org.