France’s Le Drian to hold talks with US’ Blinken on Oct 5

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 2, ARMENPRESS. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will hold talks with United States' Secretary of State Antony Blinken on October 5, as the two countries aim to rebuild diplomatic ties in the wake of a row over a lucrative submarine contract which France lost, Reuters reports.

“The two ministers will hold in-depth talks, following on from their meeting in New York on September 23, in order to identify the steps that will be needed to re-establish confidence between our two countries”, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre said in a statement.

Diplomatic relations between the United States and France hit a low point last month, after Australia cancelled a previous multi-billion dollar French-designed submarine deal, to build instead at least eight nuclear-powered submarines with U.S. and British technology.

Blinken visits Paris from Monday to Wednesday and will chair a meeting of ministers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).