# France - United States Department of State

- U.S. Security Cooperation with France HomeBureau of Political-Military Affairs Remarks &amp; Releases&#8230;U.S. Security Cooperation with France				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										U.S. Security Cooperation with France																																		Fact Sheet																														April 8, 2024																																							France is the United States’ oldest treaty Ally and provided key economic and military assistance during the Revolutionary War.&nbsp; Today, our nations still stand together in support of democratic values and the rules-based international order.&nbsp; We coordinate closely on numerous global and regional security issues, especially in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Indo-Pacific.&nbsp;France is one of the twelve founding members of NATO and the fourth-largest contributor to the Alliance’s military budget.&nbsp; As NATO Allies, the United States and France work together to strengthen the Alliance’s deterrence and defense, collaborating in military modernization and interoperability, defense industrial production, non-proliferation, military exercises and training, counterterrorism, cyber and border security, and countering emerging and hybrid threats.&nbsp; On NATO’s periphery, France and Germany lead EU efforts in coordination with the United States to pursue normalization between Kosovo and Serbia.&nbsp; France and the United States also work closely together on efforts to bring about a long-term diplomatic resolution to the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.&nbsp; Outside of Europe, the United States and France cooperate closely on counterterrorism challenges.The United States and France are also participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), where France participates in OSCE missions in the former Yugoslavia and Moldova, and, along with the Unites States, is one of the largest donors of OSCE extrabudgetary projects, including the Support Program to Ukraine.&nbsp; The United States and France also share membership in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, which aims to improve relations between NATO and non-NATO nations.&nbsp; France is also an observer to the Organization of American States (OAS).&nbsp;France has been a leader in efforts to support Ukraine against Russia’s war, having contributed an estimated 3.5 billion dollars in military support to Ukraine as of November 2023, including several dozen Caesar howitzers, critical air defense systems, and SCALP cruise missiles with plans to accelerate production in order to increase provision, and cooperation with the U.S. to mitigate the risk of weapons diversion.&nbsp; France is also providing initial pilot training to Ukrainian pilots as part of a joint effort with European partners and has spearheaded European Union efforts to provide additional military assistance to Ukraine.&nbsp;In the Indo-Pacific, the United States and France are both active members of the Multinational Working Group, along with our Five Eye partners and Japan, which is focused on coordinating security capacity building efforts throughout the region.&nbsp; France is also a sending state to the United Nations Command in Korea, a member of the Pacific Security Maritime Exchange, which supports the enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea.&nbsp; Lastly, France participates in several bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral exercises across the Indo-Pacific, including the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC), the Philippines’ Balikatan, Thailand’s Cobra Gold, and Indonesia’s Super Garuda Shield.The United States has $6.2 billion in active government-to-government sales cases with France under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. FMS cases notified to Congress are listed here, and recent and significant sales include: E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Aircraft Procurement Support and Sustainment; Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG); Switchblades 300 – Lethal Miniature Aerial Missiles System (LMAMS); AGM-114R2 Hellfire Missiles; E-2C Hawkeye Sustainment Support; MQ-9 Unmanned Aerial Vehicle; MQ-9 Communications Intelligence Sensor Pod Suites, and Support; and C-130J/KC-130J Hercules aircraft The United States is proud to support its foreign policy and national security objectives by improving the security of France through the Foreign Military Sales program. France is an essential force for political stability and economic progress in Europe.&nbsp;In FY 2018-22, the United States also authorized the permanent export of over $1.5 billion in defense articles to France via the Direct Commercial Sales (DCS) process.&nbsp; The top three categories of defense exports to France were Military Electronics; Fire Control, Laser, Imaging, and Guidance Equipment; and Aircraft and Related Articles.The United States has also provided France with equipment under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program.&nbsp; These include the provision of aircraft engines, E-2C aircraft, and maritime spare and repair parts.&nbsp;The United States and France have numerous agreements governing various aspects of security cooperation including on personnel exchanges, logistics support, information security, and defense research projects.&nbsp;France is also a large contributor to UN Peacekeeping operations, most significantly to UNIFIL, having contributed 659 personnel to the mission as of January 2024. As of February 2023, France is the second largest contributor of troops among the five permanent members of the security council to UN Peacekeeping Operations, with more than 700 personnel deployed in total.&nbsp;Since 2018, France has contributed 380 staff members to support Operation Sea Guardian in the Mediterranean.&nbsp; Since 2016, France has actively been contributing to reassurance measures for the Baltic States and Poland, including the provision of air policing support to Estonia and participation in AWACS patrols over Eastern Europe.&nbsp; France and the United States also contribute to NATO’s forward presence in the Black Sea, which demonstrates the Alliance’s solidarity and adaptability in the region.&nbsp; France has increased its focus on defense cooperation in recent years, specifically with Germany and other European countries, as well as the United Kingdom.&nbsp; In 2017, France launched the European Intervention Initiative, which seeks to build European capacity to jointly conduct military operations and missions.&nbsp; France has committed one frigate to Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea.According to the Landmine Cluster and Munition Monitor, France supports humanitarian mine action programs to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance and provide mine risk education in nine countries:&nbsp; Iraq, Ukraine, Mauritania, Libya, Benin, Azerbaijan, Myanmar, Yemen, and Syria.&nbsp; The United States funds similar programs in several of these countries.&nbsp;France participates in several significant bilateral and regional exercises with the United States, EU, and NATO Allies, to include:&nbsp; Project Orion, Atlantic Trident, Dynamic Manta, and Steadfast Defender.&nbsp;For further information, please contact the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Office of Congressional and Public Affairs at PM-CPA@state.gov, and follow the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs on Twitter, @StateDeptPM.						Tags																					Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																								Bureau of Political-Military Affairs																								France
- Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Verma’s Travel to Paris and Geneva Office of the SpokespersonDeputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard R. Verma will travel to Paris, France and Geneva, Switzerland from April 6-10.  During his visit to Paris, Deputy Secretary Verma will focus on strengthening critical ties with U.S. allies and partners including in the public and private sectors.  He will meet with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, accept co-chair leadership of the UNESCO Group of Friends for Priority Africa, and join a roundtable on Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence.While in Paris, he will join a Leaders’ Dialogue on leveraging the Blue Dot Network to Mobilize the Private Sector to Incentivize Quality Infrastructure, meet with OECD Secretary General Matthias Cormann, and participate in the official launch ceremony of the Blue Dot Network Secretariat on April 9.Deputy Secretary Verma will conclude his trip in Geneva, where he will meet with partners including UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi and International Telecommunications Union Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin.Deputy Secretary Verma’s trip highlights the United States’ commitment to engaging with multilateral institutions.  He will also advance the U.S. affirmative vision to ensure AI systems are safe, secure, and trustworthy.  Emphasizing the importance of the Blue Dot Network, the Deputy Secretary aims to facilitate increased funding for infrastructure projects in the Global South.
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken With Darius Rochebin of LCI/TF1 Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of StateParis, FranceChief of Mission Residence QUESTION:  Good evening, Mr. Secretary of State.  Antony Blinken, you&#8217;re head of U.S. foreign policy.  First, Ukraine&#8217;s cry for help.  Is the United States in a position to promise that the Ukrainian state, that Kyiv, will never fall into Russian hands?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  I am convinced we already have.  In other words, it is not happening, it&#8217;s never going to happen.  At the beginning of the Russian aggression in 2022, we thought there was a possibility that Kyiv would fall.  But thanks to the incredible resistance of the Ukrainian people, and thanks also to the support given to Ukraine by the United States, France and other countries, Putin&#8217;s desire to conquer the whole country, to wipe it off the map, to make it part of a greater Russia, has not materialized and it won’t.QUESTION:  Mr. Zelenskyy said: “We&#8217;re not 100% sure that Putin won&#8217;t use nuclear weapons.”  And he added, “That&#8217;s what makes President Biden cautious.”  Do you, indeed, have to take that risk into account?SECRETARY BLINKEN: From the start, from day one, President Biden was convinced of two things: that we had to do everything possible to support Ukraine, because the aggression against Ukraine was not just an aggression against the Ukrainian people and against the country, but against all the basic principles of the international system.  But he was also convinced that we had to avoid a war with Russia.QUESTION:  A nuclear escalation?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  An escalation, whether conventional or nuclear.  And so, since then, he&#8217;s been leading with great clarity in this direction: supporting Ukraine but avoiding a war with Russia.QUESTION: It&#8217;s not just theoretical.  Don&#8217;t we remember the warning that went out about a possible use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine?  If that were to happen, would the United States respond?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Look, I&#8217;m not going to get into hypotheticals.  There was indeed a moment when there was fear. I think that &#8212;QUESTION:  (Inaudible) there were concrete messages to that effect.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  All I can say is that there was a fear that it was possible.  But I think the Russians heard not only from the United States, not only from France, but from many other countries, including China, that a nuclear weapon should absolutely not be used.QUESTION:  But in principle, Mr. Secretary of State, compared to the use of conventional weapons, would the slightest nuclear use, even tactical weapons, be a complete change?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  For us, it would be a complete change, yes.QUESTION:  With consequences for Russia?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  With consequences.  But we&#8217;re doing everything, of course, to avoid this possibility and to avoid a war, a bigger war.  But at the same time, we absolutely must support Ukraine, because the Russian aggression continues to this day, it continues to do appalling damage within Ukraine, and it continues to present a danger not only to Ukraine, but to Europe as well.QUESTION:  The Balts are expressing their fear of a more conventional war.  It would be a Russian incursion into the Baltic territories and, as in Crimea in 2014, a fait accompli.  Would the United States militarily prevent it this time?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  You know, we have an exceptional asset, which is NATO.  And the basic idea of NATO is that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on everyone.QUESTION:  Article 5.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Article 5.  And I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s in Mr. Putin&#8217;s interest to widen the conflict, especially with or against a NATO member.QUESTION:  Mr. Blinken, do you understand that this is the crucial question – for the Balts, in particular? Can they be assured that even one foot of a Russian soldier on Baltic territory would lead to a military response from the United States of America?SECRETARY BLINKEN: A millimeter or a centimeter.  For us, Article 5 is essential.QUESTION: With a military reaction?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Again, I won’t go into specific hypotheses, but I think that any adversary who is aggressive against a NATO member knows that he will get a response from NATO, including the United States.QUESTION:  That&#8217;s you.  If it&#8217;s Mr. Trump, does that change?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  You know, all I can do is manage today and do the best I can with all my colleagues.  The future &#8212;QUESTION:  But do you understand, excuse me, Mr. Secretary of State, the fear of Europeans who wonder, ‟If Mr. Trump is there, there may be a disengagement from NATO?”SECRETARY BLINKEN:  I hear fears coming from my colleagues, from my fellow citizens, but, you know, there are often fears when there are changes in democracies, whether it&#8217;s the United States, whether it&#8217;s France, whether it&#8217;s any democratic country where there&#8217;s a change of government every four years, every six years or whatever, there&#8217;s always something, because of course you get used to what you&#8217;ve got.  You don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s coming next, but what I can tell you is that this year will mark 75 years of NATO, 75 years of American administrations, Republicans and Democrats, supporting NATO.  I&#8217;m convinced that it will continue, no matter what.QUESTION:  You have helped Ukraine powerfully.  You rule out – that’s clear – American troops in Ukraine, don’t you?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Yes.QUESTION:  However, what happens if the French – Mr. Macron has said, “it’s not out of the question” – the Finns, the Poles go for it.  It’s their choice.  Will it require a NATO consensus?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Again, I stay away from making hypotheses for the future.  Our policy is clear.  President Biden&#8217;s policy is clear.  There will be no American troops on Ukrainian soil.QUESTION:  Why not?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Because for us, it&#8217;s something that will lead closer to a direct conflict with Russia, which we want to avoid.  It&#8217;s not in our interest and it&#8217;s not in the interest of the Allies. But at the same time &#8212;QUESTION:  Excuse me.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Go ahead.QUESTION:  Would it be like a stab in the pact since, let&#8217;s say, the Cold War when there&#8217;s been no direct confrontation between the two nuclear powers, for ground troops to take place?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  For us, it&#8217;s a matter of national interest.  It&#8217;s not in our interest to have a direct conflict with Russia.  I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s in the interest of any of the NATO members.  But at the same time, there is a determination, a conviction that we must do our utmost to support Ukraine, and do so not only this year, but in the years to come.Because the real danger – there is an immediate danger on the ground – but the greatest danger is the idea that may be in Putin&#8217;s head, that he can outlast us, that we&#8217;ll end up fading away, whether it&#8217;s us, Europe or the other partners.  I think it&#8217;s essential to convince Putin that this won&#8217;t be the case.QUESTION:  But, Antony Blinken, once again, if the French also go, the Finns, the Poles, etc., is it at our peril or do you think it will involve NATO?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Everyone must make decisions on a national level and on an Alliance level too.QUESTION:  Will the Alliance have to come to an agreement?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Again, I won&#8217;t go into hypotheticals, but I know very well that, with the relations we have within the Alliance, the relations we have directly with France, everything we do, we do together.  We talk about it, we discuss it, and we decide together.QUESTION:  In Brazil, President Macron raised the possibility of Vladimir Putin taking part in the next G20 meeting, provided, he said, that it would be useful and that there was a consensus among all G20 members.  Do you see this as a possibility, under these conditions?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  If there&#8217;s a consensus among all the members and if it&#8217;s useful, yes.  In the current situation, it&#8217;s hard to see how it could be useful and how there could be a consensus among all the members &#8212;QUESTION:  For you, would a Putin-Biden handshake be conceivable, provided, of course, that it was useful?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  The idea has never been to exclude Russia or Mr. Putin.  It&#8217;s the actions, it&#8217;s the policy of Russia and of Mr. Putin that triggers what happens in terms of Russia&#8217;s relations with the G20 or with the G7, with the world.  So, if policy changes, we don&#8217;t rule anything out.  The problem is that we don&#8217;t have any proof, for the moment, that policy is changing.QUESTION:  But if the policy changes, can we talk to Mr. Putin again very directly, even at a summit?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  I hope there will be a day, and I hope that day will come sooner rather than later, when relations between our countries and Russia will be quite different from the current one.  Unfortunately, that&#8217;s not the case, and it&#8217;s not the case because of Mr. Putin&#8217;s policies.QUESTION:  So, to be perfectly clear, he&#8217;s not a pariah forever?  Not necessarily?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Russia is not a pariah, and for us, it&#8217;s not so much the individuals, the personalities, that count, it&#8217;s the policy pursued by a country.QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary of State, there is obviously another major crisis, in the Middle East, and you&#8217;ve made no secret of your disagreements with Benjamin Netanyahu.  We won&#8217;t go into them in detail, but in your opinion, how dangerous is the strong-arm policy he&#8217;s pursuing?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  There is an extraordinary challenge for Israel.  It&#8217;s what to do after the October 7 attack, the day after.  How to live with Hamas and the danger it represents, a continuous danger?  It was not only normal, but almost an obligation to respond, and to respond in such a way that October 7 could never happen again.  And don&#8217;t forget that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.There have been attacks on Israel by Hamas in 2008, 2009, 2011, 2014, 2021, 2023.  At the same time, we have said from the outset that we support Israel&#8217;s right to protect itself, to ensure that October 7 does not happen again.  But how Israel goes about this mission is also important.QUESTION:  Is it too brutal?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  What we&#8217;ve seen with the loss of life, the children, the women, the men who find themselves in the middle of this confrontation, the damage is terrible.  At the same time, the fact that humanitarian aid isn&#8217;t enough for the people of Gaza, that&#8217;s a danger and an immediate necessity.QUESTION:  Antony Blinken, we understand the necessity of security for Israel.  But we also need to give hope to the Palestinians.  Some say they will unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state right from the start.  Today, the Prime minister of Spain says he might do so.  Emmanuel Macron has said that this is a tool that can be used when the time comes.  Do you share this opinion?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Our desire, our goal, is the establishment of a Palestinian state, because we are convinced &#8212;QUESTION:  But it seems a long way off.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Especially today, it can seem a long way off.  Even before October 7, it seemed very far away.QUESTION:  But that means that the act of saying, OK, we&#8217;re already recognizing, now, we&#8217;re making this political act of saying, obviously, we must protect Israel, but at the same time, we&#8217;re recognizing a Palestinian state.  Is that possible?SECRETARY BLINKEN: What&#8217;s important is that there should be a real agreement between Palestinians and Israelis, not an agreement that is applied unilaterally by other countries, but a real agreement between the two.  But there also needs to be leadership from the world&#8217;s major countries to try and reach this destination.  Let me give you an example.Israel wants to have a normal relationship with Saudi Arabia.  That would be something historic and extraordinary.  We&#8217;re working on it, but in order – and I think it&#8217;s possible – to make it a reality, we&#8217;ll need two things:  calm in Gaza and an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state.So we can see, if you like, a possible path.QUESTION:  In many cases, compromises are necessary, compromises in the Middle East, or compromises, and I come back to this, in Ukraine.  Will a territorial compromise ever be necessary?  Some people are thinking of the Donbass and Crimea.  Or do you believe that it is a matter of international law, and we should not mess with it?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  For us, what matters is the desire, the will of the Ukrainian people.  It&#8217;s up to them to decide.  Whatever they decide, we&#8217;ll support them.  But I am also convinced of one thing: despite the present challenges, first of all, we have a defeat, a strategic debacle for Russia in Ukraine.  Russia is militarily, economically and diplomatically weaker.  The Ukrainian people are united, in solidarity, against Russia, which was not the case before 2014, the first aggression against Ukraine.Europe has cut off its dependence on Russia for energy, and NATO is now stronger, bigger, with two new members.  This was something we didn&#8217;t contemplate at all before 2022.  So we already know that.  And we also know that Ukraine has the capacity to be a strong state, militarily, economically and democratically.The path is there, it&#8217;s taking shape, but we need the support of the United States, France and Europe.QUESTION:  One last word, Antony Blinken.  We&#8217;re here at the U.S. residence.  Thank you for your French.  (Inaudible) of Jefferson, the Founding father, he&#8217;s here.  He used this striking phrase, “the United States, Empire of Liberty.”  Even today, you&#8217;re an imperial power.  The war of aggression in Iraq, the NSA wiretaps, but at the same time, you say:  No.  A little bit? A lot?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Imperial, no.  We have no desire to conquer territory, to keep territory.  We&#8217;ve had interventions that, with hindsight, with time, we would have done something else.QUESTION:  Do you regret them?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  But all I can say is &#8212;QUESTION:  You haven&#8217;t answered my question.  Do you regret them?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Yes, I have regrets, absolutely, about Iraq, like many people.QUESTION:  But, sorry, I was going to say you&#8217;re at the same time a defender of freedom for Western Europe, we need you.  Are you still the world&#8217;s policeman?SECRETARY BLINKEN:  I&#8217;m convinced of two things.  First, for just about all the problems that have an impact on the lives of the American people or the lives of the French, we need to cooperate and coordinate with other countries, whether it&#8217;s the United States or France.  Alone, we don&#8217;t have the capacity to manage all these problems.  But I&#8217;m convinced of another thing too: without the commitment of the United States, things will be more difficult to try to manage and reach a common goal.  So for us, the essential thing is to create partnerships, to create better coordination.  And that starts with long-standing allies like France.  But any country willing to play by the rules of the international game is a partner, and we&#8217;re up for it.QUESTION:  Mr. Secretary of State, thank you very much.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you.
- Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with French President Macron HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with French President Macron				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Secretary Blinken’s Meeting with French President Macron																																		Readout																														April 2, 2024																																							The below is attributable to Spokesperson Matthew Miller:Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with French President Emmanuel Macron today. Secretary Blinken and President Macron reaffirmed strong support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom against Russia’s aggression. They also agreed on the importance of preventing the conflict in Gaza from expanding, including avoiding escalation in Lebanon; discussed challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China; and discussed efforts to bolster global food security through coordination on the Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils (VACS).						Tags																					Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																								France																								Office of the Spokesperson																																Secretary Trip																															The Secretary of State
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné at a Joint Press Availability Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of StateParis, FranceQuai d’Orsay													HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Secretary Antony J. Blinken and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné at a Joint Press Availability				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Secretary Antony J. Blinken and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné at a Joint Press Availability																																		Remarks																														April 2, 2024																																							FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Good afternoon to all of you.&nbsp; Dear Antony, it gives me great pleasure to receive you here in Paris.&nbsp; As you know, France is deeply attached to the Alliance that unites it to the United States of America within the framework of NATO, as we’re celebrating its 75th anniversary as well as in the context of our bilateral relations.&nbsp; For some two and a half centuries, we’ve always stood together in all of France with the United States of America for freedom.The United States knows what it owes France, but I can tell you very concretely that we in France here – France knows as well what it owes the United States in its history.&nbsp; In this year of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we will have other opportunities to say it forcefully, to celebrate the friendship between the United States and France on the 8th of June.&nbsp; And it is also this sort of spirit of freedom that drives us and that led us to support Ukraine together.As you know, ladies and gentlemen, for two years now Russia has been waging an unjustifiable aggression against a free and sovereign country.&nbsp; And not content with oppressing his own people, Vladimir Putin is trying to subjugate the Ukrainian people.&nbsp; But there are two obstacles that have been preventing him from doing so for two years now and which are making his war a failure for Russia – first of all, the bravery of the Ukrainians who for two years have been fighting the massive assaults of the Russian armies.&nbsp; And today, although Ukraine certainly did not seek this war – they have done everything to avoid it as a matter fact, and they still intend to fight it.&nbsp; This fight is one of self-defense, which is guaranteed by the UN Charter.&nbsp; It is a just struggle.On the occasion of the meeting of NATO – the ministerial meeting tomorrow in Brussels – we shall yet again intensify our support to Kyiv and send across a clear signal of our determination.&nbsp; The conference held in Paris on the 26th of February was a clear step to that effect, and we’re concretely implementing the decisions taken within the context of a number of coalitions that covered the needs of Ukraine.&nbsp;&nbsp; Together with the United States, dear Antony, we are co-chairing the coalition on artillery, within the framework of which we are implementing part of our initiatives.In order to weaken the support of Russia – and I said it on many occasions here on press conferences, Russia is resorting to lies and to manipulating our public opinions.&nbsp; Russia finances interferences, and also is promoting false media.&nbsp; It accuses Ukraine and Europe of crimes committed by others, recently Daesh.&nbsp; And it is a crude way of concealing the fact that Russia has chosen the wrong enemy by ignoring Islamic terrorism on its territory.And we in Europe will be determined to fight this propaganda.&nbsp; France will soon be proposing a regime of sanctions, dedicated to those who support Russian companies of disinformation, destabilization of our country and of the whole European continent.&nbsp; It is a French proposal supported and implemented by the 27 member states.Dear Antony, we talked about the Middle East, and please allow me, first and foremost, to express our firm condemnation of the Israeli strike that led to the death of seven humanitarian personnel of the NGO World Central Kitchen.&nbsp; The protection – the situation – humanitarian situation is disastrous and is worsening day after day, and nothing justifies such a tragedy.&nbsp; In this context, all decisions taken by the Security Council shall be implemented, including Resolution 2728.&nbsp; And what does it say?&nbsp; Well, it says that all hostages must be released immediately and without conditions; that all civilians must be protected; and that massive humanitarian aid should be delivered.And in this context, I had a chance to present the French initiatives of the Security Council to the secretary – general secretary.&nbsp; We need to work on a two-state solution, based on just and sustainable peace between Israel and Palestine, based on security guarantees on both sides.&nbsp; And I have found discussions to be constructive.&nbsp; And over the next few weeks, I will continue to work and advocate all of this with all the stakeholders in the region and the permanent members of the Security Council.We shall also avoid any regional escalation.&nbsp; I have in mind Lebanon.&nbsp; France made proposals that were favorably received by our Lebanese partners.&nbsp; And I will continue to talk to all interested stakeholders, and all stakeholders shall prevent any escalation.We also talked about the war in Sudan.&nbsp; This is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.&nbsp; And on the 15th of April, we will organize a large humanitarian conference in Paris co-chaired by France, Germany, and the European Union.&nbsp; We need to mobilize in order to work on this major crisis which is being forgotten by the media and the political leaders.&nbsp; And I know I can count on you and on the United States, dear Antony, to promote, make sure that this conference is a success for the people in need.Lastly, we talked about Armenia’s territorial integrity, which is being challenged by Azerbaijan today.&nbsp; And let me tell you how worried we are given the fact that the rhetoric of Azerbaijan is getting out of hand.&nbsp; And we see an increasing number of fake news as well coming from Baku, and they tend to blame Armenia for the responsibility of an escalation, even though Armenia is probably the only one willing and trying to avoid it in this part of the world.&nbsp; And I can see in all of this propaganda many common elements if you look at what is – Russia is imposing on Ukraine.&nbsp; And dear Antony, I think we shall pay extreme attention to that six months ahead of COP29 in Baku.Dear Secretary of State, this is a short introduction.&nbsp; I’m looking forward to further discussing these matters in Brussels and in the coming weeks.&nbsp; There is so much we still need to do so that the values which – founding values for both our countries can prevail around the world.&nbsp; Dear Antony, thank you for these discussions.&nbsp; I’ll now leave you the floor, and once again, thank you very much for the quality of our discussions.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) I am truly delighted, as ever, to be in Paris.&nbsp; And Stéphane, I would like to thank you for this warm welcome, and indeed for this important conversation and, I do believe, quite constructive.&nbsp; If I may be allowed I’ll continue in English for my colleagues.(In English) And as I just said, it’s always wonderful to be back in Paris.&nbsp; But I especially wanted to thank my colleague and friend, Stéphane, for the incredibly warm welcome, but also the quality of the conversation that we had.&nbsp; He covered most of what we’ve talked about; let me just add a couple of quick points of emphasis.On Ukraine, we discussed the imperative of continuing to support Ukraine so that it can effectively defend itself against the ongoing Russian aggression.&nbsp; That’s for today.&nbsp; But also to make sure, through the work that we’re doing, to help Ukraine build a strong military for the future, to attract private sector investment so that it builds up its economy, and to continue to strengthen its democracy – in particular by moving down the accession path toward the EU – we are ensuring that we will have a Ukraine that stands strongly on its own feet, militarily, economically, democratically.&nbsp; And that’s the single best response to Putin’s aggression.France has been a remarkable leader in this effort, both in making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself and also working to set it up for the long term.&nbsp; It’s been a leader in burden sharing – billions donated in military and economic assistance to Ukraine – but also rallying other countries, using its leadership to bring others along.&nbsp; We also see this leadership in the enforcement of sanctions and export controls to limit Putin’s war machine.&nbsp; We are working day in, day out to effectively prevent the transfer of weapons and materiels to Russia to fuel that war machine, to fuel its defense industrial base, including from Iran, from North Korea, and from China – something that we discussed today.This is not only a threat to Ukraine; it’s actually a threat to European security as a whole.&nbsp; And so there’s a strong interest on the part of France, on the part of all European countries to do everything we can to prevent the ongoing bolstering of Russia’s war machine.&nbsp; Part of our shared challenge, too, is making sure that we are continuing to build up and energize our defense industrial base.&nbsp; Earlier today I had a chance to tour a factory where munitions are being produced.&nbsp; These munitions – French munitions, American munitions, munitions coming from other parts of Europe and well beyond – have been absolutely essential in ensuring that Ukraine could stand up against the Russian onslaught.&nbsp; We have to build a stronger allied defense industrial base that’s capable of meeting the challenges of today, but also future challenges.And that’s also one of the reasons why it is essential that the United States Congress pass President Biden’s supplemental budget request as soon as possible, indeed when it returns from its recess.&nbsp; That would further turbocharge our own defense industrial base while creating more good jobs in the United States.As Stéphane said, we also spent some time talking about the Middle East.&nbsp; We’ve been grateful for France’s partnership on the crisis of the Middle East, and indeed working together to prevent the conflict that we see in Gaza from spreading to other parts of the region.&nbsp; Both of us agree on the need to get to the quickest possible ceasefire, to allow the release of hostages, to enable the surge and sustainment of humanitarian assistance.As I mentioned, we’re coordinating closely when it comes to Lebanon and trying to prevent any spread of the conflict there, finding a diplomatic way forward.&nbsp; We’re also working together on creating a path to a more durable and lasting peace, with security guarantees and political guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians alike.Let me also reiterate what Stéphane said about the attack on the World Food Kitchen members – World Central Kitchen, excuse me.&nbsp; First, I can only say that for so many of us we send our condolences to the loved ones, to the families, the friends, the colleagues of those who lost their lives as well as those who were injured.&nbsp; I spoke to José Andrés just about a week ago about the efforts that World Central Kitchen is engaged in Gaza, as it is in many other conflict zones around the world, including in Ukraine.&nbsp; They have been doing extraordinary, brave work, day in, day out, and critical work to try to make sure that people in need get what they need, starting with the most basic thing of all – food to survive.The victims of yesterday’s strike join a record number of humanitarian workers who have been killed in this particular conflict.&nbsp; These people are heroes.&nbsp; They run into the fire, not away from it.&nbsp; They show the best of what humanity has to offer when the going really gets tough.&nbsp; They have to be protected.&nbsp; We shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow human beings are themselves at grave risk.We’ve spoken directly to the Israeli Government about this particular incident.&nbsp; We’ve urged a swift, a thorough, an impartial investigation to understand exactly what happened.&nbsp; And as we have throughout this conflict, we’ve impressed upon the Israelis the absolute imperative of doing more to protect innocent civilian lives, be they Palestinian children, women, and men or be they aid workers, as well as to get more humanitarian assistance to more people, more effectively.Finally, let me just say that, as you heard from Stéphane, we touched on a number of other issues.&nbsp; I think what we see is an extraordinary convergence between France and the United States on the major challenges of our time.We’re cooperating together to try to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.&nbsp; That means a region where countries are free to choose their own path and their own partners; where problems are dealt with openly; where rules are reached transparently and applied fairly; where goods, ideas, people flow freely and lawfully.&nbsp; We’re proud partners in the Paris climate summit, including joint efforts to advance civil nuclear energy as a greener alternative.Finally, let me just say how grateful we are as well to President Macron for his longstanding leadership on some of the most important, cutting-edge issues of the day; for example, all of the issues attendant to cyberspace, uniting governments, the private sector, civil society around rules of the road that reflect our shared values and our shared interests.It is, I think, very fitting that we are celebrating two landmark anniversaries this year: &nbsp;the 80th anniversary of the liberation that Stéphane alluded to, as well as the 75th anniversary of NATO, the Alliance – the defensive alliance – that joins us together.&nbsp; In fact, the 80th anniversary of the liberation is a good reminder of why we decided a few years after the end of World War II to come together in that defensive alliance to help ensure that something like World War II would never happen again, to make clear that countries in the transatlantic space would look out for each other, have each other’s backs, and in so doing make it less likely that aggression would occur.So there’s a lot to look forward to in the weeks and months ahead, even as we deal with the challenges of this moment.&nbsp; And I look forward to being back in France to do that.&nbsp; Thank you.FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp; Thank you.MODERATOR:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) One question per media, please.QUESTION:&nbsp; Thank you very much.MODERATOR:&nbsp; Could you please stand up, please?QUESTION:&nbsp; Of course.&nbsp; (Laughter.)SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Don’t drop the laptop, John.QUESTION:&nbsp; Sorry about this.&nbsp; (Laughter.)&nbsp; Very, very disorganized over here.&nbsp; (Laughter.)&nbsp; Mr. Secretary, as the leader of the U.S. department that has approved the transfer of the vast majority of the Israeli bombs dropped in this conflict, do events like the bombing of the World Central Kitchen convoy give you pause about continuing the flood of U.S. weapons into Israel?And a second question for both of you, Secretary Blinken and Minister Séjourné.&nbsp; There has been a rise of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries.&nbsp; The West is fairly united in saying these strikes are justified.&nbsp; Do you think hitting these facilities is the right strategic approach for Ukraine?SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;(In French.)FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp; (In French.)SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Thank you, John.&nbsp; Let me take the second question first.&nbsp; It has been our view and policy from day one when it comes to Ukraine to do everything we possibly can to help Ukraine defend itself against this Russian aggression.&nbsp; At the same time, we have neither supported nor enabled strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory.With regard to arms transfers, look, I think it’s very important to put this in its proper perspective and to understand what we’re talking about.&nbsp; First, we have a longstanding commitment to Israel’s security and to helping ensure its ability to defend itself.&nbsp; That’s been a policy from administration to administration – Republican, Democrat, back and forth.&nbsp; And indeed, that policy, developed over many years, developed into successive agreements between the United States and Israel – long duration agreements, 10 years in this case, to provide military assistance over that timeframe to about $3 billion a year.&nbsp; That’s the system that’s in place, and it’s long been in place.These arms transfers, every single one, happens consistent with statutory and policy requirements.&nbsp; That includes both informal and formal notifications to Congress, and it’s what we do with every country with whom we have a defense relationship that involves the sale or transfer of arms.Now, the other important piece of context is this:&nbsp; With Israel – and this is also true of other countries – there are a number of open cases, open requests of previously notified cases which has not been fully fulfilled or completed.&nbsp; In the case of Israel, for example, there are many requests that were made and were notified to Congress and agreed to that go back a decade or more.&nbsp; And it takes time, often, to produce the materiel or the weapons in question, the parts, et cetera.&nbsp; These complex systems, simply put, can take years to actually allow us to fulfill the request and the agreement.So many of the cases that you occasionally report on now underwent congressional review years ago and were notified years ago, well before the conflict in Gaza started.QUESTION:&nbsp; Isn’t that more of a problem, though?&nbsp; Because they were approved in a non-wartime context, but Congress never had a chance to &#8212;SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Let me come – let me come to that, because again, all of this context is very, very important.&nbsp; We, of course, also go out of our way to make sure that we’re actually going above and beyond the law and what’s required in briefing Congress.&nbsp; We go to the relevant oversight committees.&nbsp; We make sure that they’re aware of ongoing transfers above the statutory threshold, even ones that they’ve approved a long time ago and even when there’s no requirement that there be additional notice or additional approval of any kind.Now, we’ve been focused on trying to make sure that October 7th can never happen again.&nbsp; But having said that, the security relationship we have with Israel is not just about Gaza, Hamas, October 7th.&nbsp; It’s also about the threats posed to Israel by Hizballah, by Iran, by various other actors in the region, each one of which has vowed one way or another to try to destroy Israel.So the weapons, the systems that Israel has sought to acquire – and as I said, have been contracted in many cases over many, many years – go to self-defense.&nbsp; They go to deterrence, trying to avoid more conflicts.&nbsp; They go to replenishment of their supplies and their stocks.So that’s the system that’s in place, has been in place for a long time, and one that continues.Now, as to the conflict in Gaza, from day one, we have worked to impress upon Israel the imperative of protecting civilians, of adhering fully to international humanitarian law, to the law of armed conflict.&nbsp; That is something that we are looking at and review on a regular basis, and that we’re engaged with Israel on on a regular basis, including as recently as yesterday when we met with – by video with the Israeli delegation.FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Thank you.&nbsp; I will be quite clear and direct as to the strikes by Ukraine against Russian refineries.&nbsp; This brings almost no comment on our behalf.&nbsp; The Ukrainian people is acting in self-defense, and we consider that Russia is the aggressor.&nbsp; And in such circumstances, there is hardly anything to – anything else to say.&nbsp; I think you understood me.MODERATOR:&nbsp;(Via interpreter) A question from the French press.QUESTION:&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Good afternoon.&nbsp; Delphine Touitou, AFP.&nbsp; I have a question regarding the Israeli strike on the consulate – question for both of you.&nbsp; So about this strike by Israel on Iran’s consulate in Damascus.&nbsp; I’d like to know whether you fear any escalation in the region.&nbsp; And a follow-up question.&nbsp; Given what happened in Gaza recently, did Israel go beyond some red lines?&nbsp; And what would be the red lines in Gaza or elsewhere as to the way Israel is behaving at the moment?FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp; (Via interpreter) Let me start.&nbsp; To be extremely clear, the whole purpose of our action from the very beginning – and I believe the Secretary of State is in the same mindset – it is all about preventing escalation.&nbsp; That’s the whole purpose of our action.&nbsp; And there are a number of stakeholders who obviously are trying to expand the conflict in the north of Israel and in the Red Sea.&nbsp; We talked about it, and we already made comments on that here – the strikes against the United States in Syria and Iraq or elsewhere.&nbsp; So the escalation is entirely their responsibility, so I need not qualify things, but I need to tell you that the whole purpose of our action is to prevent this escalation.&nbsp; And we will accordingly not comment on what happened.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;(Via interpreter) I can only say the same thing.&nbsp; We follow the same approach.&nbsp; We’re working very closely together to avoid an escalation, be it in Lebanon, in Iraq, or in Syria; or be it in the Red Sea, or in Yemen, et cetera.&nbsp; And with respect to the strikes in Syria, we are trying to ascertain the facts.&nbsp; We are in the process of learning exactly what happened, and we are continuing to work to understand the details.&nbsp; But we are working everyday together – France and the United States, especially in Lebanon – to avoid that there be a conflict between the parties, a conflict about which we are convinced neither the Israelis, neither Hizballah, neither Lebanon want, or neither Iran.MODERATOR:&nbsp;(Via interpreter) One more question from the American press.QUESTION:&nbsp; Thank you.&nbsp; Hi.&nbsp; Simon Lewis from Reuters.&nbsp; I just firstly wanted to come back to the issue of the World Central Kitchen workers, the seven workers who were killed by an Israeli strike.&nbsp; I had the honor of actually knowing one of them, “Zomi” Frankcom, and I can testify to her zest for life, kindness, and selflessness that we could see in the work that she was doing.&nbsp; This morning I’ve seen an image of her Australian passport covered in blood.&nbsp; It’s quite striking.Secretary Blinken, you’ve been warning for several months about the need for more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza.&nbsp; You recently talked about the near-famine conditions there.&nbsp; This is the reason why these world food – World Central Kitchen workers were there.&nbsp; You’ve called for an investigation.&nbsp; But this isn’t the first time that aid convoys have been hit.&nbsp; This isn’t the first time that the Israelis have been taking action that’s restricted aid both going into the Gaza strip and being distributed.&nbsp; So I really wanted to ask:&nbsp; Are you going to do more if this continues – this has continued for months.&nbsp; Is there more that you can do than simply raise these issues with the Israelis?&nbsp; And if their investigation comes back with certain findings, is there some action the United States as the main backer of Israel is going to take regarding that?And secondly, France has proposed a new UN Security Council resolution on Gaza that goes further than the one that the U.S. abstained on last month.&nbsp; It calls for decisive and irreversible measures taken by parties towards a two-state solution.&nbsp; Secretary Blinken, you’ve called for a pathway to a two-state solution, a Palestinian state.&nbsp; So will you support such a resolution?&nbsp; And to the foreign minister, regarding that resolution, have – are you assured of having U.S. support for that?&nbsp; The U.S. has used its veto several times since October to block resolutions on Gaza, so would you call on Secretary Blinken to not use the veto in this case?&nbsp; Thank you.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;Simon, with regard to humanitarian assistance, going back to the very first trip that I made to Israel after October 7th – a few days later – and every trip subsequent to that, I and many others, starting with President Biden, have worked to impress upon Israel the moral, the strategic, the legal imperative of doing everything possible to provide humanitarian assistance to people who need it.And, of course, we’ve seen Israel take important steps over the last six or so months, whether it was opening Kerem Shalom, whether it was actually starting by opening the Rafah crossing to begin to allow assistance in – Kerem Shalom; guaranteed fuel deliveries, flour through the Ashdod Port; opening a new gate, 96 gate, just a couple of weeks ago; now the maritime corridor that many of us are working to establish – they’ve taken steps.&nbsp; But it is, simply put, insufficient.&nbsp; It is not enough to meet the needs of the children, the women, the men in Gaza who remain caught in a horrific crossfire of Hamas’s making.So in our conversations with the Israeli Government, including just last week when the defense minister was in Washington and just yesterday when we were on a video conference with Israeli counterparts, we impressed again upon them the imperative of now surging and sustaining assistance, and not only getting it into Gaza but, within Gaza, getting it to everyone who needs it, including in the north, where, as you know, the conditions are the most challenged and where World Central Kitchen was laboring to get assistance to people.&nbsp; So we and many others, including France, are intensely focused on this, and we are looking very carefully to see that necessary steps are taken to ensure that the assistance needed gets in and gets to people who need it.This also involves issues like much better coordination on the ground.&nbsp; We’ll see what the investigation of the incident with World Central Kitchen reveals.&nbsp; But coordination has been a perennial problem, deconfliction, as well as other challenges – destroyed roads, lack of trucks within Gaza, things of that nature that have to be remedied, as well as the access points into Gaza.&nbsp; Having said all of that, I’m not going to get into hypotheticals or get ahead of myself or get ahead of the administration.&nbsp; All I can tell you is this is an area of intense focus and absolute necessity.When it comes to the Security Council, France and the United States have worked very closely together as permanent members on pretty much every issue that comes before the council, including this one.&nbsp; And I look forward in the days and weeks ahead to talking about the current effort, other efforts that may come forward.&nbsp; We share the same objectives.&nbsp; I think – based on my conversations with Stéphane, I think we both agree that getting an immediate ceasefire to enable the release of hostages and the surging of humanitarian assistance would be the best next step that we could have to actually really change things on the ground.&nbsp; So we want to make sure that we’re maximizing the efforts to do that.&nbsp; Negotiations with regard to ceasefire and hostages are ongoing.We also agree that we have to find a path to a durable, lasting peace for Palestinians and Israelis alike.&nbsp; And we both agree that, ultimately, that has to include the establishment of a Palestinian state with necessary security guarantees for Israel.&nbsp; So we’re aligned on the fundamentals, and we’ll be talking in the days and weeks ahead about any of the measures that are before the council.FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) As far as we’re concerned, we already a week ago commended the adoption of the resolution.&nbsp; And we, as a matter of fact, are calling on all parties to comply with its content.&nbsp; Otherwise there is no international law anymore and no multilateral solution.&nbsp; France, like you said, is also working on an initiative at the Security Council.&nbsp; Together with its partners, including the United States, we’re working on the parameters of the – how to exit the crisis, including the political parameters.&nbsp; Of course they have been discussed in different fora within a number of diplomatic circles.&nbsp; We are working on a two-state solution, all the different possibilities of what could lead to an end to this political crisis with a ceasefire and the arrival of humanitarian assistance, and a political architecture that would enable to have security on both sides.We also, together with the Secretary of State, talked of – about another point, and that was the purpose of my visit to Cairo on Saturday, where I met my Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts – and in Guyana as well.&nbsp; We talked about the parameters and how to exit this crisis.&nbsp; And we’ll continue to talk to all the members of the Security Council and, more broadly, to the countries of the region, and we have the intuition, the feeling that we can find a consensus as broad as possible for a sustainable way out of this crisis.&nbsp; And this will require the adoption of a new resolution.&nbsp; If there can be – there shall be another way, and there will be, but such is what – this is what France is working on.MODERATOR:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) One last question on behalf of the French press.QUESTION:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Thank you.&nbsp; Phillipe Ricard,&nbsp;Le Monde.&nbsp; About Ukraine, I’d like to know whether France and the United States now agree on the possibility of Ukraine at some point joining NATO.&nbsp; Of course that will be discussed in July at the NATO summit.&nbsp; And a question on Iran regarding Ukraine.&nbsp; Did you – we feel there is an increasing – an increased – there’s some increased concerns about the delivery of weapons by Iran.&nbsp; Do you have any information on that?FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Like we said on the occasion of the summit in Vilnius, I believe the member-states of NATO share the same point of view.&nbsp; We are supporting the reforms undertaken by Ukraine in order to join NATO, and we shall work in order to prepare this NATO summit, which will be a summit of unity.&nbsp; This is important, and both France and the United States and – are attached to this unity on that point.&nbsp; So in the coming hours, in the coming weeks, I believe we will be confirming this unity, and we shall stick to the Vilnius formula, I believe.SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Yes, indeed, we did talk about the NATO summit and Ukraine, and we’ll talk about it much – in much greater detail in the coming days in Brussels during the NATO foreign ministers meeting.&nbsp; As the Allies stated in Vilnius, Ukraine will be a member of NATO.&nbsp; For us, the issue is having a good and clear roadmap to reach this conclusion.&nbsp; And I believe that the NATO summit for the 75th anniversary will indeed be highly focused, and quite concretely, as to how we can establish this roadmap.&nbsp; Or to use another image, the bridge – the necessary bridge to allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO.And with respect to Iranian missiles, which are being sent to Russia and are being used against the Ukrainian people, indeed we did mention it.&nbsp; We are working together to try to interrupt, at least penalize, any support of this nature, be it from Iran, North Korea, or elsewhere, including China.&nbsp; And this is also something that will be mentioned probably with our NATO colleagues in the coming days.MODERATOR:&nbsp;&nbsp;(Via interpreter) Thank you, ministers.&nbsp; This was the last question of this press conference.&nbsp; Thank you for attending.&nbsp; Thank you.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Merci.						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- Secretary Antony J. Blinken At a Tour of Nexter Headquarters with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Secretary Antony J. Blinken At a Tour of Nexter Headquarters with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Secretary Antony J. Blinken At a Tour of Nexter Headquarters with French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu																																		Remarks																														April 2, 2024																																							SECRETARY BLINKEN:&nbsp; Well, let me begin by thanking the defense minister for receiving us today, but more than today, for the extraordinary partnership that France, the United States, and so many other countries have developed in support of Ukraine, helping them resist the Russian aggression that continues to this day.&nbsp; I think what Minister Lecornu, Secretary Austin, and others have built is truly extraordinary, both in providing the artillery systems, the munitions, the air defenses that up until now have helped ensure that Ukraine could resist and resist effectively this Russian aggression.&nbsp;I have not seen in the 30 or so years that I’ve been involved in these issues a better example of burden sharing between the United States and its partners than the one we see in Ukraine.&nbsp; Together, for as much as the United States has provided, our European partners and other partners from well beyond Europe because of the global nature of this challenge have provided even more.But even as we’ve accomplished all of this and even as Russia has suffered what I believe to be a strategic debacle in Ukraine – it’s weaker militarily, it’s weaker economically, it’s weaker diplomatically, Ukraine is more united than ever before, Europe has taken itself off of the dependence on Russian energy, and our NATO Alliance is both stronger and now bigger by two members.&nbsp; And, of course, Ukraine, which many predicted would fall in a matter of days, continues to stand strong.&nbsp; But we are at a critical moment where it is absolutely essential to get Ukrainians what they continue to need to defend themselves, particularly when it comes to munitions and air defenses.And so there’s a near-term challenge that we’re working together to meet.&nbsp; It’s another reason why the supplementary budget request that President Biden has made to Congress must be fulfilled as quickly as possible.&nbsp; It’s needed now.&nbsp; It’s needed urgently.&nbsp; But it’s also an investment in ourselves, and what we’ve been talking about today besides the immediate challenges for Ukraine is the work that both of our countries are doing and where France is a real leader, as in so many other areas, in building back and strengthening our defense industrial base, because unfortunately, the challenges that we’re seeing in Ukraine are not going to go away tomorrow, and we have to make sure that we have the means not only to continue to help Ukraine but to make sure our own defenses are as strong as possible.But these investments in the defense industrial base are also investments in ourselves, and I’d just conclude by saying that, again, when it comes to the supplemental budget request, virtually all of the money requested for defense articles for Ukraine will be invested in the United States to produce what’s needed.&nbsp; So we look to Congress to act quickly and swiftly and effectively, just as our European partners have continued to act so effectively when it comes to Ukraine.Sébastien.DEFENSE MINISTER LECORNU:&nbsp; (Via translation) Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary of State, dear Antony.&nbsp; Thank you for agreeing to this visit here at KNDS, especially because we welcome you as a friend of France who speaks absolutely remarkable French, and a part of your heart, of your adolescence, of your young childhood was spent here in Paris.&nbsp; I know you take great pleasure coming back each time to France, and we French also on a personal level welcome you.&nbsp; So we wanted to tell you that.&nbsp;Thank you for stopping by KNDS, which is at the heart of what we are trying to do as part of the months-long artillery-focused action between France and the United States.&nbsp; You recall as part of the UDCG initiative, which was piloted from the Ramstein base, a number of actions to which France immediately responded.&nbsp; For us it was obviously a question of being effective, complementary in our aid to Ukraine; and having a 360-degree approach, including training, equipment, maintenance of the equipment, and of course, ammunition.&nbsp;We see this clearly as a critical moment when we must demonstrate endurance in support for Ukraine – budgetary endurance, capacity endurance, and industrial endurance.&nbsp; And I really want to thank dear Nicolas and all of the KNDS team who were able to meet the challenge in making good on France’s word to Ukraine within the framework of the partnership initiatives that we are leading, together with our American friends.CAESAR has become the symbol of our artillery support.&nbsp; With a significant increase in production capacities – from two per month to now six per month – and perhaps giving a figure which has never been publicly expressed but which was presented by the teams from KNDS to Antony a few moments ago, we’re going to increase the production up to 12 cannons per month.&nbsp; In any case, the artillery cannons that go on the chassis of this CAESAR truck show our ability to respond to the needs of Ukraine – and, dear Antony, also to respond to the needs of European partners who are members of NATO, who are in the process of reaching their 2 percent of GDP contributions, and who are in the process of acquiring weapon systems to contribute to the defense and collective deterrence of the whole of NATO.It is obviously also a key issue for our defense industries to respond to this favorably in a framework of interoperability, which I hope will also be one of the major outcomes of the Washington Summit which we will soon have at the anniversary of the foundation of the NATO Alliance.We will forge ahead on ammunition, which is the key issue, to be able to develop stocks of powder which we can produce here.&nbsp; Obviously, we have drawn operational conclusions from everything that has happened in the last few years, and from our aid to Ukraine.&nbsp; And so we’re obviously going to continue our engagement with the Secretary of State, which has allowed us to return to discussions of ground-air defense – a segment in which we are very committed.&nbsp; And, as I had the opportunity to say to the press this Sunday, France will once again make deliveries of Aster missiles for the SAMP/T device that we gave to Ukraine alongside our Italian friends.So all of this is obviously indicative of a strong endurance, which is needed in the coming weeks and months.&nbsp;So thank you for your presence, thank you for your words, and thank you for the very effective partnership between Paris and Washington in this aid to Ukraine, which I believe we are doing very effectively and in a very complementary way.						Tags																					Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																								France																								Office of the Spokesperson																																Secretary Trip																															The Secretary of State																								Ukraine
- Secretary Antony J. Blinken And UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay Before Their Meeting Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of StateParis, FranceUNESCO HeadquartersDIRECTOR-GENERAL AZOULAY:  Very happy to have you here, Mr. Secretary, and again welcome home at UNESCO.  It’s a great honor and privilege to have you, and we’ve seen the difference with the U.S. back at the table.SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Well, Director-General Audrey, thank you so much.  It’s great to be back at UNESCO.  It’s great for the United States to be back in UNESCO as well as a member of the executive board.  And I know – and have already seen it – that there is much that we can do with UNESCO on an agenda that is critical for people all over the world, everything from making sure there’s more STEM education for girls to handling artificial intelligence in an ethical manner.For the United States, it’s so important that we have a seat at the table, and I’m very, very pleased that we’ve regained the seat that we had and didn’t have but now we have again at UNESCO, and I’m looking forward to talking with the director-general about the work that we and other countries are doing here at UNESCO.I also just want to say how much I appreciate your leadership at a time of tremendous challenge.  You’re doing an extraordinary job, and it’s made our own re-entry into UNESCO that much better, that much more effective.DIRECTOR-GENERAL AZOULAY:  Merci.
- French Republic HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;French Republic				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										French Republic																																		Fact Sheet																														April 1, 2024																																							Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken travels to the French Republic April 1, 2024, to further strengthen our bilateral relationship and emphasize our unified support for Ukraine.&nbsp; While in France Secretary Blinken will meet French President Macron, Foreign Minister Séjourné, and other key French officials to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Our cooperation to support Ukraine is rooted in the bedrock principles that the United States and France have shared since the very beginning, including respect for national sovereignty and self-determination.&nbsp; France has a central role to play in ending Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine and finding a solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict.&nbsp; Our cooperation and coordination is vital and we commend France’s leadership.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Secretary will thank President Macron for France’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia&#8217;s aggression, hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and recognize the importance of this year’s commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of France.&nbsp;The United States and the French Republic:&nbsp; Allies, Partners, and Friends&nbsp;The United States enjoys an enduring, strong bilateral relationship with the French Republic as NATO Allies, partners, and friends.&nbsp;Our relationship with the French Republic is based on our joint commitment to shared democratic values that are essential to mutual security, stability, and prosperity.&nbsp;The United States and France work closely on a full range of issues around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, and Latin America.&nbsp; We collaborate to combat terrorism and stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.&nbsp;France is one of NATO’s top troop contributors.&nbsp; France supports NATO modernization efforts and is a leading contributor to the NATO Response Force.&nbsp; France also closely collaborates with the United States on international public health threats like Ebola.&nbsp;France is the United States’ fifth-largest foreign investor, with $360 billion in foreign direct investment at the end of 2022.&nbsp; More than 5,300 French firms employ more than 741,000 U.S. workers, making French companies the fifth-largest foreign employer in our country.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States is the top destination for French investment and the United States is the largest foreign investor in France.&nbsp; The United States and France have a bilateral convention on investment and a bilateral tax treaty addressing, among other things, double taxation and tax evasion.&nbsp;U.S. exports to France include industrial chemicals, aircraft and engines, electronic components, telecommunications, computer software, computers and peripherals, analytical and scientific instrumentation, medical instruments and supplies, and broadcasting equipment.&nbsp;The United States and France recognize the climate crisis and nature loss as the existential challenge of our time and will continue to work together to galvanize the global action needed to address it.&nbsp; The United States and France work together to ensure better ocean protection in view of the next UN Ocean Conference that will be held in France in 2025.&nbsp; The United States and France advance their climate and energy cooperation through the U.S.-France Clean Energy Partnership launched in 2022, including cooperation on civil nuclear energy, which has a key role to play in reducing global CO2 emissions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States and France are strengthening their alliance across all sectors of space cooperation, a more than 60-year relationship in space, in civil, commercial, and national security space activities.&nbsp; This cooperation includes the U.S.-France Comprehensive Dialogue on Space, announced by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron in November 2021, to deepen bilateral coordination.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States and France:&nbsp; Standing Together in Support of Ukraine&nbsp;France and the United States stand united in condemnation of Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, just as we stand united in our support of the people of Ukraine as they fight to defend their homes, their culture, and their future.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States and France remain steadfast in imposing consequences on Russia, including through sanctions and export controls, and we will continue to address the wider effects of the war, including working with the international community to build greater resiliency to food and energy disruptions.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;French leadership among EU member states is crucial at every stage of this conflict, and France continues to lead, providing substantial military/defense and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and supporting efforts to hold Russian forces to account for their atrocities and war crimes.&nbsp;&nbsp;The United States appreciates France’s continued support for the roughly 70,000 refugees from Ukraine currently hosted in France.&nbsp;						Tags																					Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																																														Economic Prosperity and Trade Policy																															France																								Office of the Spokesperson																																Official International Travel																																							Secretary Trip																															The Secretary of State
- Travel to France and Belgium, April 1-5, 2024 HomeTravels with the Secretary of State &#8230;Travel to France and Belgium, April 1-5, 2024				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Travel to France and Belgium, April 1-5, 2024																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																																									Close																																																	Tags																					Belgium																								Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																								France																								The Secretary of State
- Secretary Blinken’s Travel to France and Belgium HomeOffice of the SpokespersonPress Releases&#8230;Secretary Blinken’s Travel to France and Belgium				hide		if(window.jQuery) {		jQuery( document ).ready(function() {			if (jQuery(".bc_middle").hasClass("collapse")) {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});				jQuery(".bc_hide").click(function(){					jQuery(".bc_hide").toggleClass("visible");					jQuery(".bc_middle").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_ellipse").toggle();					jQuery(".bc_content").toggleClass("noflex");					jQuery(".block_breadcrumbs_content").toggleClass("noflex");				});			} else {				jQuery(".bc_ellipse").hide();			}		});	}																										Secretary Blinken’s Travel to France and Belgium																																		Press Statement																														March 28, 2024																																							Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel&nbsp;to Paris, France; and Brussels and Leuven, Belgium, April 1-5.&nbsp; While in Paris, Secretary Blinken will meet with French President Emmanuel Macron&nbsp;to discuss global issues including support for Ukraine, preventing the conflict in Gaza from expanding, and stabilizing Haiti. &nbsp;He will also meet with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay to underscore U.S. support for UNESCO’s core mission, including cultural preservation and education.In Brussels, Secretary Blinken will participate in the NATO Foreign Ministers Meeting, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of NATO on April 4, and have meetings with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.On April 5, Secretary Blinken will join a U.S.-EU trilateral meeting with Armenia, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan regarding U.S. and EU support for Armenia’s economic resilience as it works to diversify its trade partnerships and address humanitarian needs.In Leuven, Belgium, Secretary Blinken will take part in the 6th U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council meetings, underscoring our shared commitment to innovation and economic collaboration.&nbsp; He also will visit imec, a Belgian semiconductor research center.						Tags																					Belgium																								Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs																								France																																International Organizations																															Office of the Spokesperson																																Secretary Trip