Harris receives Macron in Washington and considers France a "vital ally"
Today, Wednesday, US Vice President Kamala Harris received French President Emmanuel Macron, stressing that "France is a vital ally of the United States" at the start of a state visit that would settle differences and remove tensions over US trade protectionism.
In a warm tone and with mutual smiles, she welcomed the French president at the headquarters of the space agency "NASA", praising the cooperation "based on democratic principles and common values".
For his part, Macron stressed, speaking in English, that these "shared democratic values" must also apply in the space, which he described as a "new place of conflict" of the international community.
Therefore, the French President called on Paris and Washington to work together to establish "new rules" governing the conquest and exploration of space.
The French president was accompanied by French astronauts Sophie Adino and Touma Pesquet - the latter is a candidate to be aboard one of the rockets that the United States intends to send to the moon as part of the ambitious "Artemis" project.
The French president is scheduled to spend three days in the country, the first president to receive a state visit since Biden took office.
Macron's visit is rich on its first day. After NASA, he will hold a meeting on the environment with members of Congress and another on civil nuclear energy with actors in the sector.
The head of state will also address the French community after a traditional ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.
Finally, the French President, his wife, Brigitte Jo, and Jill Biden will meet for a private dinner away from the official protocols that the White House will witness at the reception on Thursday, including cannon shots, a meeting in the Oval Office, and a dinner party.
"The United States of America! A station to celebrate the friendship between our two countries. A station to advance together in a challenging period," Macron wrote in a tweet in English.
Like his Republican predecessor Donald Trump in 2018, the current Democratic president chose his French counterpart to single him out for the first state visit of his term.
John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said, "France is one of the threads with which our nation is woven," praising Emmanuel Macron's "leadership sense," his "experience" and "wisdom," especially since the French president has been in office for much longer than the German chancellor or British Prime Ministers who took office a short time ago.
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