Off the wire
• 12th Festival of Lights in Berlin kicks off  • Cathay Pacific Airways appoints new CEO in Spain  • Nigeria sets 2020 deadline for elimination of malaria: official  • China Open results(updated 2)  • UN chief condemns attack against refugee camp in Niger  • Turkey says Putin's visit will speed up normalization process  • Zambia's decision to ban secondhand tyres receives backlash  • Parliament speaker urges opposition party to accept Zambian leader  • British FTSE 100 rises 0.63 pct on Friday  • Zambian gov't says removal of subsidies will be gradual  
You are here: 　 Home

Hollande cancels visit to Poland after Airbus deal abandonment

Xinhua, October 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

French President Francois Hollande on Friday cancelled a visit to Poland planned next week after the Polish government decided to scrap an Airbus helicopter deal worth 3.14 billion euros (about 3.52 billion U.S. dollars).

Hollande, expected to take part in Franco-Polish intergovernmental consultations scheduled for Oct. 13, decided to postpone his visit after Warsaw's decision to abandon a deal to buy Airbus-made Caracal helicopters, Le Figaro newspaper reported.

The French head of state had asked Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to go to Poland "quickly," it added citing the president's office.

In April 2015, Poland's previous centrist government agreed to buy 50 Caracal helicopters as part of a plan to modernize its military and improve security amid increasing tension in eastern Europe.

Winning the country's legislative in October last year, the eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS) party said it was cancelling the deal. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) Endit