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Nicolas Forissier in Australia: France Takes Action

Confluence Pacific

Nicolas Forissier in Australia: France Takes Action

A French Minister for Foreign Trade in Australia. Take a moment to appreciate what that represents. The last visit was before the submarine contract, before AUKUS, before the years of tension that nea...

23 Apr 2026

Artificial intelligence and digital sovereignty: France and Australia facing the same challenge

Confluence Pacific

Artificial intelligence and digital sovereignty: France and Australia facing the same challenge

The question that does not go away Une question revient dans les discussions sur l'intelligence artificielle, discrète mais persistante : à qui appartiennent les données que ces systèmes traitent, et ...

8 Apr 2026

Critical minerals: France wants its share in Australia. But first, it needs to be there!

Confluence Pacific

Critical minerals: France wants its share in Australia. But first, it needs to be there!

"France is more and more keen." Four words from Madeleine King, Australian Minister for Resources, reported this morning by Reuters from the Minerals Week summit in Canberra. Four words that will not ...

26 Mar 2026

EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement: it's done. Eight years of negotiations, and now?

Confluence Pacific

EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement: it's done. Eight years of negotiations, and now?

This morning in Canberra, Ursula von der Leyen and Anthony Albanese put an end to eight years of negotiations. The EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement is concluded. A security and defence partnership ha...

24 Mar 2026

EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement 2026: why French companies should invest in Western Australia now

Confluence Pacific

EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement 2026: why French companies should invest in Western Australia now

Ursula von der Leyen is in Sydney and Canberra this week. She is there to finalise a free trade agreement between the European Union and Australia, negotiated since 2018, buried in 2023, and resurrect...

22 Mar 2026

The Indian Ocean: New Global Growth Basin and the Strategic Asset of Western Australia

Confluence Pacific

The Indian Ocean: New Global Growth Basin and the Strategic Asset of Western Australia

This morning, while reading an article in Le Monde that confirmed what I observe daily from Perth, I felt that familiar sensation of dislocation. Not just geographical, these 14,000 kilometres that se...

20 Jan 2026

From Extraction to Transformation: How Western Australia Is Capitalising on Europe's Industrial Crisis

Confluence Pacific

From Extraction to Transformation: How Western Australia Is Capitalising on Europe's Industrial Crisis

This morning, while browsing a recent article from Le Monde by Velum Marion Kindermans regarding 165 French industrial sites threatened since September, I felt that familiar sensation of the great div...

13 Dec 2025

Why Australia Is a Strategic Opportunity for French Companies in 2025

Confluence Pacific

Why Australia Is a Strategic Opportunity for French Companies in 2025

During a recent conversation with a former French acquaintance, the director of a small business specialising in watchmaking, one question kept coming up: "Why Australia now?" This question resonates ...

8 Dec 2025