By Xinhua
Paris : French President Nicolas Sarkozy defended the right of Arab countries to be guaranteed access to civilian nuclear technology, saying there was no alternative.
Responding to a question from a journalist Tuesday, who sought to know whether Sarkozy had confidence in the ability of Arab countries to manage nuclear waste and also protect civilian nuclear plants against attacks by extremists, the president said, “my answer is absolutely yes, and what is the alternative?
“We must help these developing countries and assist them to access civilian nuclear.
“I should add that they have the wisdom to choose the French technology, which is even better. It is all better that what we are talking is French technology and not any other technology,” Sarkozy said.
The president said: “The great problem facing the world is to avoid a conflict between the East and West. If you explain to Arab countries that they have no right to civilian nuclear energy because they are Arab, you will be playing into the hands of countries such as Iran.”
During a late December visit to Egypt, the French head of state, who has already led his country into signing civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with Arab countries such as Libya, Morocco and Algeria, was quoted as saying that his country was ready to cooperate with Cairo in the field of civilian nuclear energy.
Meanwhile, President Sarkozy has defended the policy of “reconciliation” that he has been pursuing through dialogue and engagement with Syria.
“I do not regret having tried to enter into dialogue with Syria, even if we failed to obtain the desired results,” the president said during his New Year press conference, adding: “when the Syrians failed to respond to calls from France, I took it upon myself to condemn their attitude.
“Why is it necessary to defend the independence of Lebanon? Because Lebanon is a symbol of diversity and diversity is good for everybody, diversity is a universal principle that must be respected everywhere,” the French head of state said.
“France’s diplomacy is a diplomacy for reconciliation. France must engage with everyone, because France wants to extend a hand, France wants to be honest, France wants to act in good faith,” Sarkozy said, defending his support for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez.
After 11 successive failures by the Lebanese parliament to appoint a new head of state, President Sarkozy announced in late December that France had ceased all its contacts with Syria until the election of a president in Lebanon on the basis of a “broad-based consensus”.
After his election to the presidency last May, Sarkozy appeared to be breaking with the policy of his predecessor Jacques Chirac, who had suspended contacts with Syria since the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in 2005, by making a personal call to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad at the end of November.