US Vice President Kamala Harris with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday. Reuters
US Vice President Kamala Harris with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday. Reuters
US Vice President Kamala Harris with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday. Reuters
US Vice President Kamala Harris with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Wednesday. Reuters

Macron and Harris meet to mend France-US ties


Soraya Ebrahimi
  • English
  • Arabic

US Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday agreed on the importance of "absolutely critical" France-US relations.

A White House statement said Ms Harris underlined US commitment to co-operation on various global challenges, "from transatlantic security to the Indo-Pacific to the Sahel".

Expanded co-operation on space and cybersecurity issues was also announced. The two leaders "discussed the need for continued co-operation and concrete actions to create norms around emerging technology and strengthen preparedness for future pandemics", the White House said.

The meeting between the two countries came after a diplomatic storm caused by a ditched Australian submarine contract.

Mr Macron was furious in September when Australia dropped out of a deal to buy submarines from France in favour of nuclear-powered vessels from the US in an agreement that had been negotiated in secret.

After weeks of anger in Paris, Mr Macron held talks with US President Joe Biden in Rome on October 29.

"I have to say we had a fruitful meeting in Rome a few days ago with President Biden, which paved the way for the coming weeks, months and, I have to say, years," Mr Macron told Ms Harris.

Facing each other over a table at the Elysee Palace, Mr Macron thanked Ms Harris for her four-day visit to Paris.

"We do share the view that we are at the beginning of a new era. Our co-operation is absolutely critical for this era," he said.

France wants to work closely with the US on matters ranging from climate change to the Indo-Pacific region, where China's rise is a cause of a mutual concern.

French officials called the submarine deal a "stab in the back" and regarded it as a setback for efforts to rebuild ties after years of tension under former US president Donald Trump.

"I do believe, and we share this belief, that we are at the beginning of a new era which presents us with many challenges but also many opportunities," Ms Harris told Mr Macron.

"When France and the United States have worked on challenges and opportunities in the past we have always found great success.

"Building on the great conversation that you and President Biden had, I look forward to the next few days where we'll continue to work together and renew the focus that we have always had on partnership."

Mr Biden sought to make amends over the submarine dispute at his meeting with Mr Macron last month, telling the French leader that his government had been "clumsy" in the way it secured the submarine deal with Australia in partnership with Britain.

France temporarily recalled its ambassadors to Washington and Canberra after the announcement of the deal on September 15.

Anger in Paris stemmed not only from the loss of the deal, which was worth $36.5 billion in 2016, but also the shattering of an alliance it regarded as a cornerstone of its Indo-Pacific security strategy.

Ms Harris is scheduled to attend a peace forum with other world leaders on Thursday, and an international conference on Libya on Friday.

On Tuesday, during a tour of the famed Pasteur Institute in Paris, where Ms Harris's mother conducted cancer research in the 1980s, she was asked about the recent difficulties in Franco-American ties.

She compared politics with scientific research, as well as cooking, and suggested it entailed a constant search for improvement.

"There will be glitches and there will be mistakes," Ms Harris said. "If you don't make the same mistake twice … that's a good process and we should encourage it."

As she arrived on Tuesday, she said she was "looking forward to many, many days of productive discussions reinforcing the strength of our relationship".

The%20Roundup
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Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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Always use only regulated platforms

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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence

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Scores

Oman 109-3 in 18.4 overs (Aqib Ilyas 45 not out, Aamir Kaleem 27) beat UAE 108-9 in 20 overs (Usman 27, Mustafa 24, Fayyaz 3-16, Bilal 3-23)

Tuesday's fixtures
Group A
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
Iran v Uzbekistan, 8pm
N Korea v UAE, 10.15pm
Tips to stay safe during hot weather
  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
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The Bio

Name: Lynn Davison

Profession: History teacher at Al Yasmina Academy, Abu Dhabi

Children: She has one son, Casey, 28

Hometown: Pontefract, West Yorkshire in the UK

Favourite book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Favourite Author: CJ Sansom

Favourite holiday destination: Bali

Favourite food: A Sunday roast

Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
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  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
8 UAE companies helping families reduce their carbon footprint

Greenheart Organic Farms 

This Dubai company was one of the country’s first organic farms, set up in 2012, and it now delivers a wide array of fruits and vegetables grown regionally or in the UAE, as well as other grocery items, to both Dubai and Abu Dhabi doorsteps.

www.greenheartuae.com

Modibodi  

Founded in Australia, Modibodi is now in the UAE with waste-free, reusable underwear that eliminates the litter created by a woman’s monthly cycle, which adds up to approximately 136kgs of sanitary waste over a lifetime.

www.modibodi.ae

The Good Karma Co

From brushes made of plant fibres to eco-friendly storage solutions, this company has planet-friendly alternatives to almost everything we need, including tin foil and toothbrushes. 

www.instagram.com/thegoodkarmaco

Re:told

One Dubai boutique, Re:told, is taking second-hand garments and selling them on at a fraction of the price, helping to cut back on the hundreds of thousands of tonnes of clothes thrown into landfills each year.

www.shopretold.com

Lush

Lush provides products such as shampoo and conditioner as package-free bars with reusable tins to store. 

www.mena.lush.com

Bubble Bro 

Offering filtered, still and sparkling water on tap, Bubble Bro is attempting to ensure we don’t produce plastic or glass waste. Founded in 2017 by Adel Abu-Aysha, the company is on track to exceeding its target of saving one million bottles by the end of the year.

www.bubble-bro.com

Coethical 

This company offers refillable, eco-friendly home cleaning and hygiene products that are all biodegradable, free of chemicals and certifiably not tested on animals.

www.instagram.com/coethical

Eggs & Soldiers

This bricks-and-mortar shop and e-store, founded by a Dubai mum-of-four, is the place to go for all manner of family products – from reusable cloth diapers to organic skincare and sustainable toys.

www.eggsnsoldiers.com

Updated: November 11, 2021, 10:40 AM`