July 14th will mark my first year as an Ambassador in Bahrain. This year was indeed very rich in terms of cross-visits, contracts, agreements and so many other bilateral events that vouch in their density and quality for the dynamics wherein the links between France and Bahrain are bound.

The talks King Hamad held on December 5th in the Elysée Palace, then the official visit paid to Bahrain on February 11th by President Sarkozy in the framework of a regional tour have helped set a goal. Chiefly in the cultural field (in the broad sense) : the Joint Commission met in Paris as early as April, the report of which sets a programme valid for a few years mapping out our activities in the related field. Here are some points:

- The cooperation in the heritage field, be it founded in Muharraq and at Qala’t al-Bahrain (where the archaeological French mission has been working for 30 years), or in relation to fine arts.

- The signing of a three year-long bilateral agreement with the Bahraini Ministry of Culture.

- The reform of the French language status in secondary education which is intended eventually to generate an intake of air into the new Centre of French Studies (Department of French on its own) of the University of Bahrain (UoB).

- Higher education, through setting up in Bahrain a branch of a French university and going into partnerships with establishments and research centres. The political will exists on either side. Bahrainis believe like us in the intrinsic worth of cultural diversity. Hence comes their “quest for France”. There are some friends who cited this Arabic proverb for me: “Truth cannot exist only in one dream”. Isn’t then a paraphrase of the Latin maxim: “Timeo hominem unius libri” (“I fear the man of a single book” )?

Yves Oudin

French Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain