4 Oct 2016

New Caledonia talks in Paris in November

12:57 pm on 4 October 2016

France is to host the next meeting with New Caledonia's signatories of the 1998 Noumea Accord in Paris on November the 7th.

No details have been released but the territory's daily newspaper says it is the second such meeting this year because of impending French elections next year.

There is also a growing urgency as New Caledonia's independence referendum nears.

The meeting, which is usually chaired by the prime minister, will be the last under the presidency of Francois Hollande.

France is committed to organising an independence referendum by 2018 in line with the Noumea Accord, which provides for a phased and irreversible transfer of power from France to New Caledonia

The meeting is also expected to discuss the problems the territory is facing after the recent sharp drop in the price of nickel.