Monaco has completed the purchase of a parcel of land strategically placed between the Principality and the A8 motorway, following more than three years of negotiations. The cost of the relatively flat piece of land, known as the Brasca Plateau, was €20 million.
The parcel, in the commune of Eze, was originally targeted by the Automobile Club, which started serious negotiations for the land in 2014. The club has been renting the space since 2010 and using it as storage for equipment and vehicles associated with the annual Grand Prix and other events.Later, the Principality itself took over the negotiations for the 200,000 square-metre plot.
The sale of the land will allow Eze to become debt-free, while the Principality has no concrete plans for the land as of yet.
A Monegasque delegation led by Gilles Tonelli, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, visited Mali from April 4 to 7.
Alongside the Minister, Mossadeck Bally, Honorary Consul of Monaco in Mali, Bénédicte Schutz, Director of International Cooperation, Candice Manuello, Programme Manager Director of International Cooperation and Cécile Dakouo, Country Manager in the International Cooperation Department, visited Malian authorities and met with local partners working with Monegasque organisations.
During the visit, several partnership agreements were signed, particularly a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene to support the fight against sickle-cell anaemia, an agreement with the founder of Samusocial, Xavier Emmanuelli, which assists children living on the streets in Bamako, and one with the Fondation Mérieux, the association Santé Sud and the Centre of Infectiology to improve the quality of care in rural areas.
Finally, Minister Tonelli took part in the official ceremony of laying the foundation stone of the cardiac catheterisation unit at the Mother-Infant hospital in Bamako in the presence of the Monegasque association Share, the project’s founder.
Bilateral cooperation between the two countries was initiated in 2006 and was strengthened in 2011 by the signing of a Framework Cooperation Agreement on the occasion of the visit to Monaco of former Malian President, Amadou Toumani Touré. In 2012, the Sovereign Prince went on a State Visit to Mali.
The Monegasque delegation was received by a number of Malian ministers, including the Minister of Malians Abroad, Dr Abdramane Sylla, Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Dr Marie Madeleine Togo, and the Minister for the Promotion of Woman, Child and Family, Sangaré Oumou Bah.
The Princess Grace Irish Library, under the aegis of the Princesse Grace Foundation, will be hosting a public lecture on Friday, May 5, on the topic of Thomas Moore, “Drawing Room Entertainer or Rebel Songster?”
Dr Una Hunt (pictured), one of Ireland’s leading concert pianists, will present the illustrated talk on at 7:30 pm.
Since 2007, Dr Hunt has devised and co-ordinated a significant diary of events in celebration of two hundred years since the first publication of Moore’s Irish Melodies. These include a nationwide competition for young singers at the National Concert Hall, a documentary series for RTÉ lyric FM, a multi-media exhibition viewed to date by 100,000 visitors, and the largest touring concert series of its kind ever mounted in Ireland.
In 2010, she presented Moore’s Irish Melodies at Carnegie Hall, New York, where the group received two standing ovations. A performance was given the following year in Russia to mark the unveiling of a sculpture honouring Moore at the University of St Petersburg.
Although Thomas Moore moved easily in privileged circles, he was also genuinely loved by the people of Ireland where he was described as “the true hearted Irishman” and regarded as Ireland’s national poet, his fame sealed by the success of his Irish Melodies.
Throughout one of Ireland’s darkest periods, Moore’s Irish Melodies were a source of national pride, reflecting many aspects of national identity, from gentle love of country to revolution. Not content with confining themselves to Ireland’s shores, the political songs went round the world and later became symbolic rallying cries in Poland, Hungary, Russia and Cuba. Within the body of songs, the harp appears with frequency as a symbol of Ireland’s cultural past.
Reservations are essential due to the limited number of seats for the May 5 event at 9 rue Princesse Marie-de-Lorraine. Entry, €10/person, is payable at the door.
The Princess Grace Irish Library, under the aegis of the Princesse Grace Foundation, will be hosting a public lecture on Friday, May 5, on the topic of Thomas Moore, “Drawing Room Entertainer or Rebel Songster?”