Visite officielle de S.A.S. le Prince Albert II en Inde (4-5 février 2019).

À l’invitation de S.E. M. Ram Nath Kovind, président de la République de l’Inde, S.A.S. le Prince Albert II s’est rendu les 4 et 5 février 2019 à New Delhi pour une visite officielle mêlant rencontres économiques, environnementales et diplomatiques avec les plus hautes autorités de l’État.

Dans la matinée du lundi 4 février, l’avion princier se pose à l’aéroport de New Delhi. S.A.S. le Prince est accompagné du colonel Bruno Philipponnat, Son chargé de mission, de M. Gilles Tonelli, conseiller de gouvernement-ministre des Relations extérieures et de la Coopération, et de S.E. M. Patrick Medecin, ambassadeur de Monaco en Inde. Ils sont accueillis par S.E. M. Vinay Kwatra, ambassadeur de la République de l’Inde.

En début d’après-midi le Souverain et Sa délégation sont rejoints par Mme Anne-Marie Boisbouvier, conseiller au cabinet de S.A.S le Prince, et conduits jusqu’à la Fédération indienne des Chambres de Commerce et d’Industrie (FICCI) pour participer à un forum sur les liens d’affaires entre Monaco et l’Inde. Ils sont accueillis par M. Sandip Somany, président de la FICCI, et par M. Michel Dotta, président du Monaco Economic Board (MEB). La FICCI et le MEB ont réuni à cette occasion des chefs d’entreprise des deux pays, une trentaine d’entrepreneurs monégasques ayant ainsi fait le déplacement.

Après une intervention de S.E. M. Suresh Prabhu, ministre indien du Commerce et de l’Industrie et de l’Aviation civile, et de M. Gilles Tonelli, un accord bilatéral de coopération est signé entre la FICCI et le MEB.

 En fin d’après-midi, S.A.S. le Prince et Sa délégation sont conduits à l’institut The Energy & Resources Institutes of New Delhi (TERI) pour participer à une conférence sur le thème « Énergie et Climat ».

 Ils sont accueillis par le Dr Ajay Mathur, directeur général du TERI, et par M. Olivier Wenden, directeur exécutif de la Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco. Après un mot d’ouverture de la part de M. Olivier Wenden, le Souverain s’exprime en ces termes :

« Ladies and Gentlemen,

     Dear friends,

I am delighted to have the opportunity to stand before you today in this prestigious institution and to speak on an issue of the utmost importance.

An issue which concerns all of us and which goes beyond the distance which separates India and the Principality of Monaco. And beyond the undeniable differences which exist between our two States.

Because between your great country, one of the most populous in the world, and the Principality of Monaco, the differences vanish as soon as we begin to address environmental issues.

Whatever our size, whatever our geographical situation, whatever our economic situation, we are all united by the same destiny the moment we broach the subject of the situation of our shared Planet. 

As inhabitants of a single global ecosystem, we are all subject to the same risks. And we all face the same demands, the same responsibilities, the same duties: to do everything possible to stop our world being plunged into a disaster whose consequences we struggle to measure, but which we know will be dramatic, even fatal.

Sadly, we are already seeing the first signs of such a disaster.

Year after year, temperature records are broken all over the world. Here in India, over the past few years readings have exceeded 52°c, a temperature which is obviously impossible to bear for most living organisms.

Across the continents, similar warning levels have repeatedly been reached. In 2018 alone, meteorological institutes recorded temperatures exceeding 50°c in California, 40°c in Japan and 30°c in Sweden, at the edge of the Arctic Circle…

Unfortunately, this movement is likely to continue and to intensify - because the mechanisms at work are multiple and deep-rooted, and because they feed off each other - this is what is known as positive feedback, which leads to an acceleration of these phenomena.

We also know the causes of this disaster.

Thanks to the converging efforts of thousands of scientists worldwide, we now know with certainty that the increased heat beating down on our Planet owes nothing to chance, nor to the long cycles of nature.

The heat wave affecting our Planet has one main cause: it is primarily the burning of fossil energies which increases the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and it is the destruction of our environment, in particular the ecosystems, which play a key role in the mitigation of climate change and its effects.

This phenomenon striking our Planet has a single culprit: humankind.

You, me, all of us. It is our development paradigm founded on a predation rate much greater than the natural resources available. It is our irresponsible behaviour with regard to the treasures provided to us by nature, the true value of which we fail to take into account.

And it is our self-destructive dependence on fossil energies.

However, all this is not set in stone.

There is still time to act. The looming tragedy can still be prevented.

Provided that we take the necessary steps to do so quickly. Provided that we make determined choices. Provided that we demonstrate clear-sightedness and courage.

Clear-sightedness, because it is of course not easy to accept making a complex mechanism - one hardly discernible by human sensitivity - a priority. We all know that other tragedies demand our attention and our resources. Tragedies seemingly more concrete, because more spectacular, more tangible and more immediate.

But we need to be clear-minded and to accept what we are seeing is due to the many effects of hydrocarbons. Their effects on the ecosystems which we are ravaging in order to extract them. Their effects on the seas, which are acidifying as a result of the concentration of CO2 and are deteriorating as a result of oil spills. On landscapes, as well as on the oceans, disfigured and polluted by solid plastic waste derived from hydrocarbons, and on our food, contaminated by their proliferation. Their effects on our health which is undermined by air pollution. Their effects on our biosphere which is destabilised by greenhouse gases…

And faced with these facts, we must have the courage to make climate change a priority, by taking effective and ambitious measures to promote energy transition. Measures to promote the development of renewable energies, energy efficiency, all the solutions which will enable us to step away from our dependence on oil.

These are very concrete prospects. Directly operational. Immediately applicable. And undoubtedly effective.

These are solutions which have positive effects on our environment, but also on our health. Positive effects on our economies, for which they offer new and numerous opportunities. Positive effects on our world, which they are helping to save.

That is why we all need to get involved, both in India and in Monaco, both at government and corporate level, with both NGOs and research laboratories.

This is what I endeavour to do in Monaco with my Government.

This is what I endeavour to do across the globe by supporting scientific research, especially with my Foundation, which, for example, played an active role in the implementation of the IPCC’s special report on interactions between the ocean and the climate.

This is what I endeavour to do at the UN and in my discussions with my peers, by supporting every measure aimed at promoting energy transition.

This is what I endeavour to do by becoming involved, also through my Foundation, in many projects across the globe, some local, others on a larger scale.

And this is what dozens of States, hundreds of NGOs, thousands of companies and millions of people across the world are already doing.

I can see many people in this room, thanks to the determined action of the Energy and Resources Institute. And I am aware of their determination - your determination.

I hope that now, more than ever before, we are able to move forward together.

Because in the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “We must be the change we wish to see in the world”. This eternal thought is more relevant than ever.

Thank you. ».

Une table ronde se tient ensuite entre plusieurs spécialistes du climat et de l’énergie. À l’issue, un accord bilatéral de coopération est signé entre le TERI et la Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco.

Dans la soirée, un dîner privé en l’honneur de S.A.S. le Prince est offert par M. Raja Rhandir, membre honoraire du Comité international Olympique.

Le lendemain matin, le Souverain et Sa délégation se rendent au Raj Ghat, mémorial consacré au Mahatma Gandhi. Le Souverain rend hommage avec émotion au père de la nation indienne, s’inclinant en silence devant une plaque de marbre noire abondamment fleurie et symbolisant le lieu de crémation de Ghandi le 31 janvier 1948, puis Il lance au vent une poignée de pétale de fleurs. Une gerbe de fleurs est ensuite déposée sur le mémorial, au sein duquel scintille une flamme éternelle.

S.A.S. le Prince rencontre ensuite les plus hautes autorités du pays. Il est reçu dans un premier temps en audience par S.E. Mme Sushma Swaraj, ministre des Affaires étrangères, et par S.E. M. Shri Narendra Modi, premier ministre.

Puis, le Souverain est accueilli au Rashtrapati Bhavan, le palais présidentiel, par S.E. M. Ram Nath Kovind, président de la République de l’Inde. À l’issue de Leur audience, S.A.S. le Prince plante un rosier « princesse Grace » dans le jardin de la résidence. Un déjeuner est ensuite offert par S.E. M. Ram Nath Kovind aux délégations des deux pays, à l’occasion duquel le Souverain porte un toast :

« Mister President,

     Excellencies,

        Dear Friends,

I am really grateful for your kind words.

First of all, please allow me to say how delighted I am to be your guest today and to be on my first Official Visit to your beautiful country.

Not only I but also my accompanying delegations, have been touched by the marks of friendship we have been shown since our arrival in your country.

For this, we are deeply grateful to you, Mister President and the Indian Authorities, for the perfect organisation of this visit.

This trip will also allow me to rediscover your country, in particular to see for myself the efforts it makes, like our Principality, in the field of environmental protection, and to visit some wonderful places.

I am also pleased that a delegation from the Monaco Economic Board is accompanying this visit, which will, I am sure, deepen the economic relations between our two countries and their business circles.

As you are aware, my country is a significant economic operator on the Mediterranean shores and attracts many entrepreneurs who are represented today by the economic delegation. The agreement signed yesterday with FICCI will contribute to further consolidate the ties between our two countries.

May I ask your honoured guests to raise a toast to the well-being of the people of India, to India’s future and its economic prosperity, and, of course, to the continued expansion of our mutual cooperation.

I raise a glass to everlasting friendship between Monaco and India. ».

Dans l’après-midi, le Souverain effectue une visite du National Ghandi Museum.

Puis, Il reçoit en audience M. Kailash Satyarthi, Prix Nobel de la Paix en 2014.

 La journée s’achève par une réception organisée par l’ambassadeur de Monaco en Inde à laquelle sont conviées une centaine de personnalités indiennes et monégasques. Après une allocution de S.E. M. Patrick Medecin, S.A.S. le Prince prononce un discours :

« Excellencies,

     Dear friends,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you here tonight in this venue.

First please allow me to say how deeply touched I am by the warm welcome the Indian Authorities have extended to my delegation and myself on this first official visit.

Tonight I want to sincerely thank them for the organisation of this visit and the cordiality of the meetings we had.

I feel very strongly that - although we greatly differ in our origins from two very different continents and in the diversity of our history, geography and, most definitely, the size of our respective territories - we have similar concerns.

I am particularly pleased as this visit gave me the opportunity to discover a country resolutely turned to the future.

India is an upcoming giant and a nation undergoing rapid transformation.

From what I have seen, and further to my discussions with President Ram Nath Kovind, and Prime Minister Modi, India draws its strengths from its very traditional society with strong roots coming from its 5,000 years old culture, and a very prominent global mind-set that looks positively towards the future which results in a very high entrepreneurial approach.

As outsiders we witness the many actions taken by Prime Minister Modi, who is continuing his programme of reforms aimed at consolidating public accounts, promoting investment and industrial development and improving the business climate, to support the transformation of India on a global scale.

Needless to say, that with its 1.3 billion inhabitants and an economy in full transformation, in the next few years India could become one of the greatest powers in the world.

I am sure that the Business delegation accompanying me had fruitful contacts yesterday and is greatly aware of India’s strong exponential economic growth since the beginning of the 2000s.

I am also very happy to commend the various initiatives taken by Prime Minister Modi guaranteeing the future of our environment.

As such, I was happy to learn last September, that Prime Minister Modi had been awarded, in New York, the UN Champions Earth prize for Policy Leadership.

I am all the more happy to hear that this prize - which I had received in 2008 - has been bestowed on him for his pioneering work in promoting International Solar Alliance (ISA), the inter-governmental body of solar rich nations whose objective is to galvanise actions for increasing solar power footprints in 121 member countries around the globe, but also for his bold environmental leadership on the global stage, especially his actions in pledging to eliminate all single-use plastics in India by 2022.

I also noticed that India’s Cochin International Airport, the first fully solar-powered airport, has received the same Prize in the Entrepreneurial Vision Category for its leadership in the use of sustainable energy.

You are well aware of my commitment to environmental preservation and sustainable development. This is the reason why those subjects were at the core of our discussions during our meetings.

I am sure that many actions will be taken in the future to enhance and improve the means to reduce our impact on the environment.

Here this evening, I would like to express our gratitude for your friendship by raising my glass to the success of the development of economic and cultural relations between our two countries, as well as in the environmental field.

Please allow me to voice my best wishes for happiness and prosperity to the Indian people.

Thank you. ».

Le lendemain matin, l’avion princier décolle pour un retour en Principauté.