Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Link: http://www.consulfrance-quebec.org/

The major headings for cooperation are determined by the Prime Ministers during their alternating meetings.

The legal framework for our cooperation and its instruments are distinct from those of our cooperation with the Canadian federal state. This cooperation is organized by the Permanent Commission for Franco-Quebec Cooperation (CPCFQ), the 63rd edition was held in Quebec City in March 2011.

Cultural, science, and technology cooperation is based on a series of agreements, including:
 1965: Fouchet / Gérin-Lajoie (education)
 1967: Peyrefitte / Johnson (universities)
 1968: Missoffe / Morin (the OFQJ’s creation)
 1974: Chirac / Bourassa (Francophonie (the French-speaking world), industrial and technical cooperation)

Around thirty special agreements supplement these various arrangements.

Franco-Quebec cooperation is based on specialized agencies:
 the France-Quebec Office for Youth (OFQJ);
 the France-Quebec University Cooperation Council (CFQCU);
 the France-Quebec Commission on Joint Memorials (CFQ-LMC);
 Several associations, such as the France-Quebec Association, its Quebec-France counterpart, or the France-Quebec Political Action Committee (CAP-FQ).

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Sustainable Development constitutes one of the major cooperation themes between France and Quebec. The “Plan Nord” is expected to develop links between French and Quebec businesses and researchers in this field (creation in 2011 of a Joint Research Unit associating the CNRS at Université Laval).

At the most recent Prime Ministers’ alternating meeting, the role of decentralized cooperation was reaffirmed. Dialogue between French territorial communities and their Quebec counterparts, have developed significantly in recent years, as part of the “foundation of decentralized cooperation between France and Quebec,” meeting in Lyon in February 2011.

The “France-Quebec Fund for Decentralized Cooperation” (FFQCD), established in 2005 to foster the emergence of local initiative projects, has been a major tool for this growth.

In 2011, the funds raised via this tool amounted to nearly €800,000. 31 decentralized cooperation projects, parity-financed by local collectivities and the FFQCD, will be supported by France’s General Consulate in Quebec in 2011-2012.

In 2011, decentralized cooperation is opening to operations in third countries, with the launch of a call for projects in Haiti.

Scientific and academic cooperation is dense.

Most parity co-financed actions with the Quebec counterpart are aimed at structuring partnerships: creating integrated curricula and joint research laboratories, programs for joint PhDs (more than a thousand of theses to date), teacher mobility, organizing conferences and scientific events.

Since 2008, scientific and academic cooperation has been structured around the Council for Franco-Quebec University Cooperation.

France-Québec cultural cooperation is particularly intense in all areas of contemporary artistic creation. It is based on a partnership rationale with many local cultural and artistic operators.

Quebec is the number one export market for French cultural industries. Today, the focus is on seeking new partnerships and high-level co-creation projects (“Le Sang des Promesses” trilogy by Wajdi Mouawad presented at the Avignon Festival in 2009).

Updated on 15.07.11