US President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron agreed on Wednesday to begin a process of in-depth consultations aimed at creating conditions to ensure confidence and to propose concrete measures to achieve common goals.
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This came in the first telephone conversation between them since the outbreak of the submarine crisis between the two countries, according to a joint statement between the White House and the Elysee Palace.
The two leaders, who spoke at Biden’s request, emphasized that “the agreement will benefit from open consultations between allies on matters of strategic importance to France and European partners.”
He added that “President Biden has conveyed his continued commitment in this regard,” according to CNN.
The statement noted that the two leaders decided to open a process of in-depth consultations “aimed at creating conditions to ensure confidence and proposing concrete measures to achieve common goals.”
The two sides also agreed on the return of the French ambassador to the United States, who was summoned amid the dispute, next week, according to the same source.
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The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Europe in person at the end of October.
On Friday, France recalled its ambassadors to Australia and the United States against the background of the aforementioned crisis, at the direction of President Emmanuel Macron.
Relations between France on the one hand and the United States and Australia on the other entered an open crisis on Thursday after Australia canceled a deal to buy French submarines and replace them with American nuclear-powered ones.
The cancellation of the deal prompted Paris to describe the matter as “betrayal and a stab in the back.”
