The signing by the end of January of an agreement intended to save the Caledonian nickel factories was the objective stated by the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire, when he visited at the end of November. We learned this Sunday that a working group worked on the document, in connection with a mission dispatched to the site.
On November 27, the Minister of the Economy and Finance called for an agreement on the Caledonian nickel sector. It was in Nouméa, at the end of an official visit. Three days during which Bruno Le Maire visited each of the three metallurgical factories, and spoke without pretense about their critical situation. “The total financing requirement amounts, for the three industrial sites, to 1.5 billion euros”, he notably revealed, or almost 180 billion Pacific francs! And to hope for a prior agreement in the first days of 2024, or even a signature at the end of January.
Since this press conference, “a working group has been set up to create the conditions for the sustainability of the activity and jobs of the three factories”, announces the high commission in a press release released this Sunday. “Led and animated by a mission sent to New Caledonia by the minister”it involves the local government as well as the South and North provinces, on which Doniambo, the South factory and KNS stand.
According to the State, the working group worked on this draft agreement. “Following frank and constructive discussions”it is written, the original document was “enriched”, “as part of bilateral and plenary meetings bringing together all stakeholders”. We remember that Bruno Le Maire did not meet the president of the Northern province during his trip to Vavouto. The community was also not represented during the meeting which took place at the haussariat, precisely around nickel.
Still according to the press release, this recent work “also associated the Congress of New Caledonia”. And to announce a next sequence of work, “organized by involving metallurgical operators as well as the Mining Industries Union, in which the government and Congress, as well as the provinces of the Loyalty Islands, North and South will participate.”
2023-12-17 02:02:16
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