PARIS (Reuters) – French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with United States’ Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Oct 5, in which the two will aim to work on restoring confidence between the two countries, said a statement from Le Drian’s office.
Diplomatic relations between the United States and France hit a low point last month, after Australia cancelled a previous $40 billion French-designed submarine deal, to build instead at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology.
In retaliation, France briefly withdrew its ambassador to the United States, although the ambassador has since returned to Washington DC.
U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have also held talks since that row over the nuclear submarine deal broke out, and have pledged to begin “in-depth consultations” on the two countries’ relations.
(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
