Columbian soldiers successfully rescued Ms Betancourt and another 14 hostages after Farc rebels holding them captive were tricked into letting them go, and they were flown away in a helicopter.
The Farc rebels have been fighting to overthrow the Colombian government for 40 years but Ms Betancourt appealed to them to let its remaining hostages go.
She also said she was grateful to President Alvaro Uribe, against whom she had been running as a rival when she was kidnapped, and she called him "a very good president".
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who had made Ingrid Betancourt’s release a top priority, was joined by her family at the presidential residence at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
