Congolese President Denis Sassou Nguesso landed in Paris for environment talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday aboard a luxury private Boeing 787 Dreamliner, sources said.
Talks were focused on the fate of the Republic of Congo's basin forest, commonly referred to as the "second green lung" of the planet after the Amazon.
The aircraft, registered as 2-DEER, set off from Brazzaville Sunday evening and landed near Paris shortly after 0600 GMT, according to flight tracker websites FlightAware and Flightradar24.
Congolese authorities did not respond immediately to comments about the plane when contacted by AFP.
The plane is one of the most luxurious on the market.
It has a 220-square-metre (more than 2,300 square-foot) cabin, which includes a lounge-dining room, bedroom, bathroom and dozens of first-class seats.
Press reports say the plane costs $70,000 an hour to fly, meaning the one-way trip from Brazzaville to Paris would cost around $500,000 dollars.
France in 2010 launched a wide-ranging corruption probe into the ruling elite in Congo-Brazzaville. To date, five members of Nguesso's entourage have been charged.
His meeting on Tuesday with Macron focused on the protection of the forest and biodiversity in the Congo basin, according to the French presidency.
A source said Sassou reiterated his support for the Central African Forest Initiative, a partnership launched by Norway worth about $60 million.
Congo pledged to put in place a plan to protect forests, biodiversity and peat lands, in return for financial assistance, the French presidency and a Congolese official said.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced in July that it would grant $448.6 million over three years to Brazzaville to revive its economy, which has taken a knock due to falling oil prices, in the hope of more "transparency" of its public accounts.
Prince Harry launches eco-tourism scheme after private jet criticism
The Hague (AFP) Sept 3, 2019 –
Britain's Prince Harry on Tuesday launched a new sustainable tourism project, just weeks after coming under fire for taking private jets on holiday with his family.
Harry said the Travalyst initiative would work with travel companies including Skyscanner, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Visa to make tourism more environmentally friendly.
"We could all do better, and while no one is perfect, we all have a responsibility for our own individual impact," Harry said at the launch in the Dutch capital Amsterdam.
"So today after two years of behind-the-scenes conversations and planning, we're going to start with the tourism industry."
The prince also addressed a media furore in Britain over a series of private flights over the summer with his American wife Meghan and son Archie, who was born in May.
One of the trips was to the home of pop star Elton John in Nice, France.
"I spend 99 percent of my life travelling the world by commercial. Occasionally there needs to be an opportunity based on a unique circumstance to ensure that my family are safe, and it's genuinely as simple as that," Harry said.
Harry and Meghan's travel arrangements raised controversy because of the prince's previously outspoken stance on the need to tackle climate change.
The Travalyst project said in a statement that it would "initially explore and promote solutions that help drive sustainable practices and consumer choices" in tourism.
These will include "supporting local people, protecting wildlife, tackling climate change and environmental damage, and alleviating over-tourism", it said, adding that it would announce more details "in due course".
