France and Honduras
Political relations
Political dialogue increased in 2021, whereas the previous bilateral meetings took place in 2017, with the visit to France of Minister of Education Rutilia Calderon, before which President Juan Orlando Hernández visited for COP21 in 2015.
New vigour was given to the bilateral political dialogue in July 2021, when bilateral consultations were held. Defence relations have been maintained through the visits of the Honduran Ministers of Defence Fredy Santiago Díaz Zelaya, in October 2021, and José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, in July 2022.
French presence
French community in Honduras: 244 registered (with the competent post in Guatemala)
French tourists: around 12,000 (essentially visiting the Maya site of Copán and the Bay Islands)
Honduran community in France: about 250 people
Visits
The Honduran Minister of Defence, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, visited France from 6 to 11 July 2022, invited by the Minister for the Armed Forces, as did his predecessor, Fredy Santiago Díaz Zelaya from 8 to 13 October 2021.
The Minister of Government Coordination, Carlos Madero, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited France from 18 to 20 May 2021.
France’s Ambassador for Human Rights visited Honduras as part of a regional tour of Central America in April 2013, and Mr Jean-Pierre Bel, Personal Envoy of the President of the French Republic for Latin America and the Caribbean, visited Honduras in April 2016.
Economic relations
There are many opportunities for our companies in Honduras, including in the energy infrastructure, transport, sustainable cities and defence sectors, to support the country in the energy transition and to address the challenges of urbanization. In 2020, Thales won the contract for secure identity cards.
Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation
Bilateral cooperation draws on a cooperation network that includes the Franco-Honduran School and two Alliance Française branches (in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula), which coped with the public health crisis thanks to the solidarity of the Central America cultural network. France supports civil society initiatives. Mr José Antonio Zambrano Munguia, a rights defender, was awarded the Franco-German Human Rights Prize in 2020 for his action to defend LGBTQI persons.
France responded to climate disasters in 2020 with considerable humanitarian assistance (€385,000) and a food aid contribution (€250,000 via the World Food Programme in 2021). The AFD has renewed a credit line of €180 million to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABIB) for green projects.
For more information, visit the website of the Institut Français - Central America
Updated: 07 September 2022