French Foreign Minister, Other Officials, Meet AJC Delegation

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Feb 02, 2012, 02:46 ET

PARIS, Feb. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An AJC delegation has just concluded a visit to Paris, highlighted by a meeting with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe.

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The delegation also met with, among others, the National Assembly's France-Israel friendship group; Richard Prasquier, President of the Crif (the umbrella body for French Jewry); Manuel Valls, communications director for Socialist Party presidential candidate Francois Hollande; Israeli Ambassador Yossi Gal; senior Middle East officials at the Elysee palace; and energy giant Total's CEO, Christophe de Margerie.

AJC's goals in coming to France were three-fold:

First, to thank the French government for its impressive leadership role in helping raise the Iranian nuclear issue to the top of the EU and international agenda, and also its ongoing efforts to focus greater attention on the massacres perpetrated by Syria on its own citizens.

Second, to further AJC's longstanding dialogue with French officials on areas of mutual concern, including the Arab-Israeli peace process, the Palestinian unilateral bid for membership in the UN and its specialized agencies, and the upheaval in the Arab world.

And third, to gain a better understanding of the potential impact of presidential elections this spring on French foreign policy.

"I can still remember a time, not all that long ago, when the regional and global danger posed by the regime in Tehran was not fully appreciated in some European capitals," said AJC Executive Director David Harris, who led the delegation. "Yet, today, we see EU consensus on new, far-reaching sanctions. This is due in large part to the dogged persistence of France. Our warm, hour-long meeting with Foreign Minister Juppe, with whom we last met in Paris last year, gave us the chance to voice our appreciation, as well as to discuss other timely issues."

Harris was joined in Paris by AJC's Director of Government and International Relations Jason Isaacson, Executive Council member Rene-Pierre Azria, and AJC Paris director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen.

Prior to their arrival in Paris, the delegation stopped in Brussels to meet with officials, including Ambassador Pierre Vimont, Executive Secretary General of the European External Action Service. In 2004, AJC opened its Transatlantic Institute in Brussels, which today is directed by Daniel Schwammenthal.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee