The French overseas minister says she had no particular differences with the high commissioner, Jean-Jacques Brot, who resigned during her visit to Noumea.
The French overseas minister says she had no particular differences with the high commissioner, Jean-Jacques Brot, who resigned during her visit to Noumea.
His move overshadowed the visit which was to pave the way for broad talks on the territory's future in Paris in two months and precedes a visit by the French president, Francois Hollande, in November.
Walter Zweifel reports.
On her maiden ministerial trip to New Caledonia, George Pau-Langevin says she respects Mr Brot's decision but it's not up to her to comment on it.
With an independence referendum due by 2018, she says she now has to listen to everybody to find a good solution.
While Mr Brot has remained silent, those close to him say he disagrees with the French goverment approach and reportedly objected to two experts whose deployment was announced when Mrs Pau-Langevin addressed the territorial Congress.
The two, Jean-Francois Merle and Alain Christnacht, were architects of the two accords which have formed the framework for the decolonisation process of the past 25 years.