France and Dominica
Political relations
Political relations are good and France was first to respond locally following tropical storm Erika in 2015 and Hurricane Maria which caused great destruction to the island in September 2017. Dominica’s delegation, led by its Prime Minister, took part in COP21, held in Le Bourget from 30 November to 12 December 2015. This event helped demonstrate our shared commitment to combating global warming. Like many of its Caribbean neighbours, Dominica was one of the first countries to ratify the Paris Agreement worldwide.
In 2015, Martinique joined the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), of which Dominica is a founding member. In 2019, Guadeloupe acquired associate member status, and Saint Martin was admitted as an observer member.
French presence
France does not have an embassy in Dominica, but is represented by an honorary Consul. There is an Alliance Française.
French community: 116 on consular register on 31 December 2019
Dominican community in France: 3,463
Visits
Prime Minister:
- On 12 December 2017, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit took part in the One Planet Summit in Paris.
Ambassadors
French Ambassador to Dominica (in residence in Saint Lucia): Mr Philippe Ardanaz.
Ambassador of Dominica to France (in residence in London): Ms Agnès Adonis, chargée d’affaires.
Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation
Like Saint Lucia, another Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) member, Dominica keeps the use of creole alive and cultivates the country’s attachment to French.
The Roseau Alliance Française branch, which was seriously damaged by Hurricane Maria, had some 100 learners. There have been no senior expatriate officials there since 2019.
At bilateral level, the CARICOM FSPI IFLE project (€800,000) helps develop three areas of cooperation: linguistic, economic and cultural. Health cooperation and academic cooperation (Passport for French Higher Education) are also priority sectors.
An FSPI (PAIRCC) project financed by the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (€300,000) is currently being implemented in Dominica. The project aims to improve climate resilience capacity in the five Creole-speaking Caribbean territories, namely: Haiti, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia. It has three components: technical support, training modules and a digital platform. Currently, the project addresses four topics: sustainable tourism, education on the environment and sustainable development, the circular economy and the continuity of activities.
As part of projects funded via INTERREG, the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD) has worked effectively with Dominica’s authorities to reduce the effects of black tsigatoka (a fungus affecting banana plantations). However, cooperation prospects are greatest in the field of geothermal energy:
- Since 2008, the Agence Française de Développement (AFD, French Development Agency) and the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) have committed €4 million to fund exploratory drilling for the creation of a geothermal energy production facility in Dominica.
- Given the success of the exploratory campaign, the AFD granted a soft loan of €6.5 million to Dominica’s government to fund a first production well and test the resource’s behaviour in the operational phase. This loan was accompanied by a grant of €2 million from the European Union’s Caribbean Investment Facility (CIF). The project has also received funding from INTERREG and support from the French Guadeloupe and Martinique regions. It could provide Dominica with installed capacity of between 55MW and 60MW, and enable it to export electricity to French communities in the Americas.
Updated: June 2020