KARACHI: French Consul General Alexis Chahtahtinsky celebrated the Bastille day here at the lawns of Beach Luxury Hotel on Sunday (14th of July, 2024).

On 14th of July 1789 Fortress called Bastille was stormed in the first moments of the French Revolution.

In Paris, as jets soared high to color the sky Bleu, Blanc, Rouge, Europe’s most ancient and the biggest military parade was held on Champs Elysses.

At night Parisians enjoyed one of the world’s most outstanding and innovative pyrotechnics demonstrations at Eiffel Tower.

Following the National Anthem of France and Pakistan, Consul General Alexis Chahtahtinsky addressed the ladies and gentlemen in the audience.

“Excellencies, dear compatriots, guests and friends, Mesdames et Monsieurs, Assalam Alaikum!

It is a great honor for me as the Consul General of France in Karachi and the representative of the French Government in Sindh and Balochistan to address this distinguished audience tonight.

We celebrate together the French National Day, 14th of July, also called Bastille Day. This is a day when French people traditionally takes pride in the unity, on the strength of their nation and I am glad that we all gathered here tonight in Karachi in order to celebrate together the friendship between our two nations.

Celebrating Bastille Day this year is indeed very special indeed for at least following three reasons: 

The first reason is that Paris as well as the whole of France will be very soon hosting the summer Olympics. Starting from 26th of July and until 11th of August.

In just 12 days from now and for more than 2 weeks the eyes of the world would by turning towards Paris and towards France.

The French people are especially proud of this as it will be the first time in 124 years that Paris will again be hosting the Olympic Games after Baron Pierre de Coubertin undertook to revive this beautiful tradition inherited from ancient Greece.

These games will be followed at the end of August by the 27th Paralympic Games where athletes with special needs from  91 nations, including Pakistan, will compete in 22 disciplines.

We wish each and every one of them every success in their endeavors, hoping that nations of the world will be inspired by this peaceful and fair competition amongst equals.

As Baron Pierre le Coubertin would put it: “The important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.”

I therefore, believe that it is not much important which nation receives the highest number of medals. What is important for all of us to enjoy this celebration of sports as something that is shaping us, defining us and uniting us. Giving us a sense of purpose in life.

As we are celebrating today French National unity we very much look forward to this larger moment of unity for the world as well. A world unfortunately affected by too many armed conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine. 

We very much look forward to welcoming more than 10,000 athletes from 206 nations, including, of course, Pakistani athletes.

The second thing that makes this celebration of Bastille Day in Karachi, this year so special is that 2024 is of course an election year.

And this is, by the way, another thing I noticed since I came here to work in Pakistan as a Consul General that something we have in common between French and Pakistani people, apart from the passion for sports, genuine interest for politics.

Which is after all quite normal in parliamentary democracies. Even if the election results are sometimes unexpected or perhaps confusing, at the first sight.  Pakistan has held the general elections last February. All in all here election results coincided (though not always to the full extent, but coincided) with the expectations of the major players.

And you now have in Pakistan a new government at the Federal level represented here by governor and new government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who have been the Prime Minister of Pakistan for two years already.

And you also have a new Provincial Government here in Sindh headed by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, who is running the Province for a record 3rd term. Chief Minister was supposed to be with us tonight as well as another Chief Guest but unexpected circumstances prevented him from coming.

We definitely look forward to working with these Federal and Provincial Governments representatives so both at the Federal and Provincial level in a spirit of trust and friendship wishing Pakistan enhanced security and stability on its path to development.

Now, I was talking of election year. The surprise news, of course came from France. Following the decision by President Emmanuel Macron to call for early elections. A decision that was triggered by recent elections to the European Parliament, as little as a month ago.

As a result we just had general elections in France with the first round being held on 30th of June, the second round being held just a week ago on 7th of July.

With a political landscape almost evenly split amongst three major political forces. None of the three alone enjoys a majority in Parliament.

So as far as France is concerned it remains to be seen what coalition will emerge when the French Parliament convenes starting from next week.

In the meantime we will probably have some form of caretaker government. That will have to deal with the day to day business and we don’t know exactly for how long we will see. So as you see France and Pakistan have much more in common than you might have thought.

But most importantly my take from these elections is that, whatever the results, or our personal preferences, we need to preserve our national unity, and I believe this is true for France and for Pakistan.

Now the third thing that makes this Bastille Day celebration so special, apart from 2024 being the year of the Paris Olympics and being an election year in both countries.

To be more precise the fact that we are now after some protracted difficulties, just remember the situation that was a year ago. We are now witnessing some positive developments in the economic situation as a whole and in our bilateral cooperation in particular, which gives us more reasons for hope.

The macroeconomic situation has been improving gradually and it looks like discussions with IMF are finally bearing fruit. This gives the economy some much needed breathing space, of course.

And Pakistan obviously needs to stay focused on the objectives of achieving structural reforms, sustainability of meeting economic challenges, of pushing forward tax reforms and revenue generation as well as addressing poverty and fiscal deficit.

The good news is that our bilateral trade is continuously growing with Pakistani exporters benefiting from enhanced excess to the European Market through GSP plus and France being one of the main destinations for Pakistani exports that’s mainly textile with Gul Ahmed being one of the main Pakistani exporter to France alongside Chottani industries. I believe they are both with us tonight.

But it is also pharmaceuticals with Martin Dow, now being present in France as a foreign investor.

At the same time French exports to Pakistan continues to grow…electrical appliances, food and drink, perfumes and cosmetics, spare parts for the car industry.

And they continue to grow thanks, among other things, to the presence of French businesses here in Karachi. Karachi is a big port, a gateway to Pakistan (we are not far from the port).

We have CMA CGM Pakistan (based in Marseilles) now the number three shipping company in the world. We have Bolloré represented by Ceva Logistics, providing excellent transportation services.

We also have Schneider Electric, (and I can see here Humayun), well-known French company with a long-time presence in the Pakistani market.

We have Thales the world leader in defense electronics but they also do civilian air control management and they also do means of electronic payments. Whenever you go to make a payment with a credit card in Pakistan, remember there is 50% likelihood that you are using Thales technologies.

And we also have Engie that is present in Balochistan in the gas production; I think this place is called Utch. They are with us tonight as sponsors.

And we have L’Oréal, world leader in the beauty market, employing hundreds of people in Pakistan. And I want to stress that L’Oréal is a model for corporate social responsibility.

I can also mention the joint venture between Total Parco (that exists for decades now).  And Total Parco is the owner of more than 750 petrol stations across Pakistan.

And I also particularly want to mention the traditional French LU biscuits that are being produced here in Sukkur. I visited the plant recently. It is really impressive.

Last but not the least I would like to mention the car industry. You will see here tonight on display. You have probably seen it when you came in. A very fancy French car made in Pakistan. It is a Peugeot 2008 assembled here in Karachi at the Lucky Motors’ plant.

I take this opportunity to thank all of the above mentioned companies and all the others I didn’t have time to mention for being with us tonight and supporting our joint event.

I am particularly pleased as well by the fact that we have been able through joint efforts to rejuvenate and breathe new life into the Pakistan France Business Alliance, ,,, affiliated with the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris…that aims in promoting economic relations between the two countries.

Please allow me to extend my congratulations to Mr. Imran Bawani, who is the CEO CMA CGM Pakistan. He has been recently elected the new Chairman of PFBA.

And also my congratulations to Mr. Humayun Akhlaq (who is here with us tonight) CEO of Schneider Electric, who has been serving now as new CEO of Pakistan France Business Alliance.

Thank you for all this good work and I am sure we will continue in the year ahead.

But our cooperation extends beyond the economic sphere towards education and culture as well.

France and Pakistan have enjoyed cooperation for the last 60 years atleast now in the field of archaeology with French archaeologists excavating thousands of artifacts across Balochistan and Sindh.

Preservation of culture and heritage is a top priority for us and we are glad when we can do it together with other partners.

Health is of course of primary importance to all human beings. And education is key to our common future. So I am very proud that we have been able to do meaningful work in those areas.

Working together with provincial government or with important institutions such as the Agha Khan Foundation Karachi being home to Agha Khan University Hospital among others. And also with Higher Education Institutions such as IBA.

I am also very proud that Karachi is the host to the oldest foreign cultural center in Pakistan namely the Alliance Française de Karachi. They have a stand over there.

Alliance Française is a French Pakistani institution established back in 1954 when Karachi was still the capital of Pakistan.

Together with Alliance Française, represented by its President Ms. Mona Siddiqui, we organize here all year round a series of common events to give the people of Karachi an opportunity to learn French and also to go and study in France in French or even in English at affordable rates.

When I say affordable rates it means the tuition fees are 5 times, sometimes 10 times less than in for comparable studies in the UK, Canada and US.

And I know Governor has been a regular visitor to Alliance Française de Karachi. And I know also his son is taking a keen interest in the possibilities for going and studying in France.

So we try to do something on social media to spread the good news to Pakistani audience. Pakistan Zindabad!

With live music and extravagant buffet to satisfy the palate of hundreds of guests. Spectacular fireworks illuminated the skies over Arabian Sea.

Newspakistan.tv