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Published 07:55 IST, October 23rd 2021

US VP Kamala Harris to embark on Paris visit next month for talks with French Prez Macron

US Vice President Kamala Harris will be heading to Paris next month for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, announced White House on Friday, 22 October

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
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Emmanuel Macron
IMAGE: AP | Image: self

United States Vice President Kamala Harris will be heading to Paris next month for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, announced the White House on Friday, 22 October. The White House announced the US VP's visit to Paris in November as US President Joe Biden held telephonic talks with Macron on Friday. Both French and US Presidents are set to meet in Rome later this month on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) summit. 

Apart from meeting Macron, as per The Associated Press, Harris on 11 November will be delivering a speech at the annual Paris Peace Forum. The following day, on 12 November, the United States Vice President will participate in the Paris Conference in Libya. Notably, Harris will be accompanied by her husband, US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff in the visit next month. 

The official White House release on Biden-Macron’s phone call stated, “President Biden also noted the November visit by Vice President Harris to Paris as a key opportunity to further enhance U.S.-France cooperation on a range of global challenges.”

 

Biden, Macron scheduled to meet later this month 

The White House further said in a statement that Biden and Macron reviewed the ongoing efforts by teams of both nations to support the stability and security in the Sahel to elevate the cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. It added that the leaders “discussed efforts to enable a stronger and more capable European defence while ensuring complementarity with NATO.”

During his visit later this month to Rome, the US President will take the conversation forward with his French counterpart, and “take stock of the many areas of US-France cooperation, and reinforce our shared interests and common values as we take on challenges and opportunities together.

The scheduled meeting between US leaders with the French president comes in the backdrop of Washington attempting to mend ties with Paris after the bilateral ties suffered a blow due to a strategic defence pact between Australia, the UK and the US. The US and French ties became strained by AUKUS, under which Washington would sell nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra. The US move resulted in the undercutting of over $60 billion deal by a French defence contractor to sell diesel-powered submarines to Australia.

(IMAGE: AP)
 

Updated 07:55 IST, October 23rd 2021