Macron to visit Ukraine this year – Foreign Ministry

On August 24, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian discussed preparations for the visit of President of France Emmanuel Macron to Ukraine this year.

As the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informs, the ministers also discussed the situation in the temporarily occupied Crimea and efforts to de-occupy it.

Kuleba thanked France for participating in the inaugural summit of the Crimea Platform in Kyiv on August 23 and for supporting the Joint Declaration as the international policy guide to the restoration of Ukraine’s sovereignty over the Crimean Peninsula.

Kuleba also raised the issue of contacts between the mayors of some French cities and cities in the temporarily occupied Crimea, the presence of some French companies on the peninsula. In this context, the parties agreed to strengthen cooperation in order to stop violations of international law and the sanctions regime over Crimea.

As noted, another topic of the meeting was the further work of the Normandy format.

“The death of a Ukrainian soldier in Donbas on August 23 serves as another tragic reminder that the efforts of the Normandy format must be more effective and dynamic. Ukraine and France are ready to hold a meeting of foreign ministers in the Normandy format.

We hope that Minister Lavrov will also have a constructive and conscientious approach to this meeting. We will also work on the summit of the Normandy format leaders to prepare and adopt the necessary decisions for a political and diplomatic settlement,” Kuleba said.

The foreign ministers praised the active development of bilateral cooperation, facilitated by special relations established between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of France Emmanuel Macron.

“The visit of my colleague Jean-Yves to Kyiv on Ukraine’s Independence Day underlines the importance of relations between Ukraine and France,” Kuleba said.

He also added that good Ukraine–France relations are beneficial not only to the two countries but to the European Union and Europe as a whole.

As reported, the Crimea Platform summit took place in Kyiv on August 23. Its participants adopted the Joint Declaration reaffirming their support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, condemning the temporary occupation of Crimea, the militarization of the peninsula, human rights violations and restrictions on freedom of navigation in the region, and calling on the Russian Federation to engage constructively in the Platform activities.

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