French Minister Barbara Pompili To Visit Assam

French Minister for Ecological Transition, Barbara Pompili, who is on a five day visit to India to bolster bilateral cooperation on sustainable development, will be visiting Assam's Kaziranga National Park – one of the sites of the Assam Project on Forest and Biodiversity Conservation (APFBC).

The French Development Agency has been working with Assam since 2012, providing financial and technical assistance to APFBC to support biodiversity conservation efforts, sustainable management of forests and creation of alternate livelihoods for forest-dependent communities.

Pompili, whose post is considered number two in the government, will be meeting local communities during her visit and speak about developing alternative livelihoods.

Additionally, Pompili will also be visiting the Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati (IITG) and interact with researchers of the Centre of Excellence-Sustainable Polymers, credited with developing India's first biodegradable plastic.

During her visit, Pompili will also be meeting her Indian counterpart Prakash Javadekar, power and renewable energy minister RK Singh and minister of state for urban affairs Hardeep Singh Puri to strengthen cooperation on specific projects.

Pompili is the second senior French minister to visit India amid the pandemic. Defence minister Florence Parly travelled to India last September to attend a ceremony marking the induction of the first batch of French-made Rafale combat jets into the Indian Air Force.