KARACHI: France’s National Day, also called Bastille Day, was celebrated on Sunday evening at the Beach Luxury Hotel.

Speaking on the occasion, France’s Consul General in Karachi Alexis Chahtahtinsky said this is the day when the French people take pride in the unity and strength of their nation.

He said that celebrating Bastille Day this year was special for at least 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 July 26 to Aug 11. 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… In just 12 days from now and for more than two weeks the eyes of the world will be turning towards Paris and France. We very much look forward to welcoming more than 10,000 athletes from 206 nations including Pakistani athletes. These games will be followed by the Paralympic Games where athletes for special needs from 91 nations including Pakistan will compete in 22 disciplines. We wish each and every one of them every success.”

The consul-general said his country looks forward to the sporting event at a time when the world is affected by too many armed conflicts from Gaza to Ukraine.

“The second thing that makes this celebration of Bastille Day in Karachi special is that 2024 is an election year. Pakistan has held a general election last February. All in all, here the results coincided not always to the full extent with the expectations of the major players, and you now have a new government at the federal level headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and a provincial government headed by Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah.

“Now 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 a recent election to the European Parliament. As a result, we just had a general election in France. The results are surprisingly similar to what we saw in Pakistan with the political landscape almost evenly split among three major political forces — none of the three enjoying a majority in parliament. As far as France is concerned, it remains to be seen what coalition will emerge when the French Parliament convenes starting from next week.”

The French diplomat said the third thing that makes Bastille Day celebrations special is the economy. “The fact is that we are now, after some protracted difficulty, 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.”

He then talked in detail about the economic scenario.

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2024