French authorities agreed to hold a referendum on independence of New Caledonia in 2018

Almaty. November 3. Silkroadnews - The French authorities have agreed to hold a referendum on self-determination of New Caledonia in 2018, the Kazakh Telegraph Agency (KazTAG) reports with reference to Lenta.ru.
“This evening we came to a political agreement, and no less importantly, we had trust. But there is still a lot of work,” the agency quoted France’s Prime Minister Edouard Philippe saying on Thursday.
Carrying out a referendum on independence is stipulated in the agreement of 1998 on the consistent decolonization of the archipelago in the Pacific Ocean, which has the status of the overseas territory of France.
New Caledonia has the status of a special administrative-territorial formation of France. It includes a group of islands in Melanesia. The territory borders on the economic zones of Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu. The population of New Caledonia is about 275 thousand people. The first major demonstrations in the region demanding independence began in the 1980-s.