Entente Cordiale: Anglo-French Celebrations (Hansard, 2 February 2005)

§ Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean

Theentente cordiale centenary provided an opportunity to further UK-French relations and strengthen shared interests and values. There were more than 340 different celebrations and 280 town-twinning exchanges. Many events were designed to leave a lasting legacy, and looked to the future by involving children and students. There was co-operation in education, youth, sport, science and the arts, as well as in trade and investment.

The two Education Ministers signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on educational co-operation, boosting several initiatives. The MOU will be delivered over three years through various agencies, including the British Council, the Teacher Training Agency and the Specialist Schools Trust. It is likely to be renewed in 2006. Partnerships between language and specialist schools were given a further boost, with 84 partnerships now in place. Regional links between UK and French schools have produced joint study projects and visits for students and teachers. The University of the Transmarche was established, with cross-Channel courses being developed between the University of Kent and French universities in Lille and Dunkirk. Over 400 exchanges took place each way through the Teacher Training Agency, providing initial teacher training in modern foreign languages. Various badged events raised more than £200,000 for cancer charities, and the entente cordiale cancer initiative—a programme of co-operation between Britain and France in cancer research—established a number of practical outcomes: joint work between the 44WA UK's National Cancer Research Institute and France's new National Cancer Institute; a fellowship exchange scheme between clinical research centres; travel and subsistence bursaries for collaboration between researchers at grass roots level; and a prestigious entente cordiale cancer prize to allow the brightest young cancer scientists from the UK and France to work with scientists of the other country.

Her Majesty the Queen was warmly received by the French people in April 2004 during a state visit for the official launch of the centenary celebrations. President Chirac visited the UK in November as a special guest of Her Majesty, formally to round off the year. Against this successful backdrop of high-level exchanges and grass roots initiatives, the UK/French summit in November 2004 highlighted how Britain and France can achieve much when working together, and that there is more that unites us than divides us.