At the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met with French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna.
The Foreign Secretary emphasised the UK’s dedication to European security after the NATO Summit in Madrid and emphasised the necessity of strong coordination with France to build the NATO Alliance.
The G7 and NATO meetings demonstrated the unity of the UK and France in their response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, according to the Foreign Secretary and Foreign Minister Colonna. The two decided to capitalise on the summits in order to preserve the world community’s unanimity in support of Ukraine’s struggle for freedom and self-determination.
The ministers talked about how critical it is to give Ukraine more support in order to counter Russian advances. They also discussed working together on sanctions to weaken Putin’s military machine and the necessity for the free world to bolster security and economic links in order to confront threats from countries like Russia and China.
They discussed the UK-France relationship and decided to move forward with efforts to expand cooperation, as agreed upon during previous meetings between Prime Minister May and President Macron, including plans for a UK-France summit.
Finally, the Foreign Secretary brought up the UK’s concerns with the Northern Ireland Protocol and emphasised the necessity for UK legislation to rectify certain Protocol provisions and defend the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in light of the EU’s reluctance to modify the Protocol. She reaffirmed the UK’s preference for a negotiated resolution and emphasised that overcoming problems like these would enable the UK-France partnership to reach its full potential.