The French and Australian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs attempted Monday (January 30th) in Paris to mend ties broken after the submarine crisis, also announcing the delivery to Ukraine of 155 mm shells manufactured jointly.
” Several thousand 155 mm shells will be jointly produced declared the French Minister of Defense, specifying that the first deliveries were hoped for in the first quarter of 2023. The 155 mm shells are those fired by several Western artillery pieces supplied to Ukraine in its war against Russia, as the French Caesars, the American M777s, or the German Panzerhaubitze 2000s.
“ Our arms industries must produce faster by controlling costs and managing stocks “, added Sébastien Lecornu, believing that the agreement allowed ” to do it together, by limiting the budgetary effort and not taking from the stock of our armies “. ” The idea is to provide significant help, and an effort that is continuous over time. “.
Richard Marles, Australian Minister of Defence, for his part welcomed a “ multi-million dollar project “Australian and a” new cooperation between Australian and French defense industries “. On the French side, the contract will be carried out by the French industrial group of armaments Nexter, with in particular Australian powder.
► To read also : French and Australian Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs meeting in Paris
Trust between Paris and Canberra was shattered in September 2021 when Australia’s former Conservative government abruptly canceled a $90 billion contract Australians (56 billion euros) for twelve submarines from the French group Naval Group, preferring British or American nuclear-powered submarines.
Bilateral relations then remained tense until the election in May 2022 of a new Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, who has since sought to calm relations with Pariswith in particular the will for the two capitals to get along well in the Indo-Pacific zone, a crucial strategic zone for the years to come.
The head of French diplomacy Catherine Colonna, who was also receiving her counterpart Penny Wong, dismissed with one sentence ” the episode ” of the submarines before expressing the will of ” continue this work of rebuilding a partnership that we want to be ambitious “on the basis of the” mutual respect, trust and ambition “.
with agencies