Paris and Canberra proclaim reconciliation and announce joint aid to Ukraine
The French Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs welcomed their Australian counterparts to the Quai d'Orsay on January 30, 2023. AFP - STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
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The French and Australian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs attempted Monday (January 30th) in Paris to mend ties broken after the submarine crisis, also announcing the delivery to Ukraine of 155 mm shells manufactured jointly.
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“
Several thousand 155mm shells will be produced jointly,
” declared the French Defense Minister, adding that the first deliveries were expected in the first quarter of 2023. The 155mm shells are those fired by several artillery pieces Western weapons supplied to Ukraine in its war against Russia, such as the French Caesars, the American M777s, or the German Panzerhaubitze 2000s.
“
Our armaments industries must produce faster by controlling costs and managing stocks
,” added Sébastien Lecornu, believing that the agreement made it possible “
to do it together, by limiting the budgetary effort and not taking in the stock of our armies
.
"
The idea is to provide significant assistance, and an effort that is continuous over time
."
Richard Marles, Australian Minister of Defence, for his part welcomed a “
multi-million dollar
Australian project” and “
new cooperation between Australian and French defense industries
”.
On the French side, the contract will be carried out by the French industrial group of armaments Nexter, with in particular Australian powder.
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To read
also
: The French and Australian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs meeting in Paris
Trust between Paris and Canberra was shattered in September 2021 when the former Australian Conservative government abruptly
canceled a contract worth 90 billion
Australian dollars (56 billion euros) for twelve submarines from the French group Naval Group, him preferring British or American nuclear-powered submarines.
Bilateral relations then remained tense until the election, in May 2022, of a new Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who has since tried
to calm relations with Paris
, in particular with the will for the two capitals to get along well in the Indo-Pacific zone, a crucial strategic zone for the years to come.
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna, who also received her counterpart Penny Wong, dismissed
the "episode
" of the submarines with one sentence before expressing the desire to "
continue this work of reconstruction of a partnership that we want to be ambitious
" based on "
mutual respect, trust and ambition
".
with agencies
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