French envoy to visit Phl

MANILA, Philippines - The French special ambassador for environmental concerns will visit the Philippines on Jan. 20-25 to set the stage for the visit of French President François Hollande in the first half of 2015.

The French embassy in Manila said Nicolas Hulot will participate in a series of meetings with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, Climate Change Commissioner Lucille Sering, and Senate committee on the environment and natural resources chairperson Sen. Loren Legarda.

Paris will host the 21st session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) in December.

Hulot will also be meeting with other groups and personalities involved in the fight against climate change.

The ambassador will visit Tacloban City in Leyte and Guiuan town in Eastern Samar, two of the areas most devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) in 2013.

He will also check on the status of reconstruction projects in Daanbantayan, Cebu led by the France-Philippines United Action, a consortium of French companies in the Philippines engaged in reconstruction efforts.