France and Belgium in pragmatic harmony
(BRUSSELS2) Last but not least. In the "Brussels" tour that the French MinDéf made on Monday, Jean-Yves Le Drian did not fail to have a rather long exchange with his Belgian counterpart, Pieter de Crem, during a working dinner, which was held in the residence of the ministry, a stone's throw from the Bois de la Cambre. Before the traditional exchange of pralines, the two participants held a few words, fairly agreed, it must be said, in front of the press. " Belgium is our most constant, most faithful partner, with whom we have a healthy cooperation without second thoughts. explained the Frenchman. " The objective between French and Belgians and to deepen relations on a few concrete points: training, future acquisitions, NH90 helicopters and A400M transport planes “Detailed the Belgian. It is true that between the French and the Belgians, there is no rivalry and few ideological discussions even if one is frankly a faithful support of NATO and the other an ardent European. Their approach to both is intended to be " pragmatic ". “And the cooperation, to be discreet, and less flashy than with other partners (follow my gaze... 🙂 ) is indeed very concrete, and is exercised on multiple facets.
Pilot training
For many years now, Belgian pilots have been training and training in France in Tours and Cazaux for fighter pilots (on an Alpha jet), in Avord for transport pilots and in Dax for helicopter pilots. A formation which we can only welcome on the Belgian side. " Our pilots hit over 90% of the targets during our operation in Libya. This shows the excellence of French training explains an officer.
Evacuation of citizens
Another field of cooperation is citizen evacuation operations (known as NEO). The last joint operation, in Côte d'Ivoire last spring, provided good feedback. The Belgians were actually present in Abidjan in support of an operation carried out essentially by the French (because of their prior presence on the ground under the operation Unicorn). Exercises are thus programmed, in order to strengthen this cooperation both in the planning and in the execution of these operations, with the key to accurate sharing of information and the intensification of cooperation between special forces.
Exchange of good practices in Afghanistan
In a very practical way, Belgians and French are in the process of exchanging accommodation in Afghanistan. The Belgians have thus ceded their buildings to the French at Kaia - Kabul's international airport - which they will leave in October and of which the French will take command. For their part, the French handed over to the Belgians their housing as well as the shelters for the planes (Mirage) which they had in Kandahar. This may seem obvious. But as one expert on the matter explained to B2, " each building deployed on the field actually belongs to the nations who can return it to one of their allies ". There is also an advantage for each of the parties: there is no need to move these buildings or repatriate them, at least for the time being. Another subject of cooperation, negotiations are underway to base a Belgian C-130 aircraft in Dushanbe (Tajikistan), in "semi-permanent" mode, which would be made available to the French for the transport of troops to or from Afghanistan. (and vice versa, the French planes will be made available to the Belgians or the equipment which would leave).
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