About 430 companies responded to the appeal

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today organizes a day devoted to the partnership with companies. About 430 companies responded to the appeal. The purpose of this initiative with the Medef, is to provide the support that can make diplomacy to economic internationalization of the France. Philippe Douste-Blazy, Minister for Foreign Affairs, explains the "Echos" why he considers necessary that the France has a genuine "diplomacy of influence".

You are organising a day today "companies" to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Why such an initiative

Our idea is to involve the economic forces to the action of the France in globalization. I want the international expansion of our business in the heart of the diplomatic action of the France. Since the conquest of the world, today, is economic. Nearly 430 companies responded to the invitation, which proves that there is a significant demand on their part. They will be received by hundreds of diplomats mobilised for the occasion.

There is already a large mesh of business support through the network of embassies and economic missions of Bercy. Is this action insufficient

Non. But the external action of the State deserves to be better harmonized and coordinated. I have lot of respect for international action by the international network of the DGTPE, the ex-DREE, but I would like that there is a new strategy of coordination about ambassadors. This is what I am trying to do regularly. I, the last few months, organized two round tables, one in Asia, the other on the Gulf, bringing great patterns on their strategies in these key areas. This was going on at the Quai d'Orsay, but we had worked with Bercy, and I had invited François Loos, Minister delegate for industry. Whenever I do a move, I takes business leaders. This was the case in Turkey a month and a half, but Czech Republic or Ukraine. Our major challenge is to provide businesses, in particular SMEs, the diversity of the services that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can provide. Stop to think that there is one side diplomacy with small ovens and other business and the economy.

You are such a concern for better coordination of services of the State since your arrival at the dock. Do you have the feeling that things have advanced in the right direction

There is still much to do. We work better. For example, we will soon receive the Indian Minister of science and technology in France. This visit is jointly organized with the services of Christine Lagarde, the Minister responsible for foreign trade. It seems unthinkable that it otherwise. We will have succeeded when we will be able to assist companies in three areas: the knowledge of the countries where they want to locate. the use of the political levers local to help, which is part of the profession of ambassadors; and finally the accompaniment of the French who live abroad.

Is there not, sometimes, the risk of contradiction between this influence diplomacy, which defends the interests of businesses, and the more traditional, which is to defend a sustainable development, democracy or human rights

No, I do not think. Today, defending human rights, it is above all to fight against poverty and pandemics. But when I travel, I say what I have to say. And today, who is not working with China The best way to help a people is probably investing, by increasing the wages and living standards. And this is most often by companies.

The Quai d'Orsay, like Bercy, reform and redeploy its network. How the two departments work to maintain overall consistency, particularly in Africa, where economic and diplomatic interests do not always converge

The discussions I had with the chairs of the committees of Finance of the Assembly, but the Senate also show that there is a desire to simplification and efficiency, at the best price, of the network. The issue is currently in the study on Africa. The Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, was brought to a vast diplomatic movement to follow the economic effects of globalization. We need to do the same thing.