French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu (g) greets Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles (d) at the Atlantic maritime prefecture in Brest on September 1, 2022 (AFP/JEAN-FRANCOIS MONIER)
The French arms industry can play a “crucial role” in the modernization of the Australian army, assured Thursday the Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, a year after the cancellation of a gigantic contract for the construction of submarines.
“The French arms industry has had a long history in Australia and (…) played an important role in building the Australian army to the level it is at today,” Mr. Marles recalled, per elsewhere Minister of Defence.
Mr. Marles was speaking during a press conference with his French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu in Brest. Before France, the Australian manager visited Germany and the United Kingdom.
“We are entering a period of increasing our defense budget, modernizing our military, and we are confident and optimistic about the crucial role that the French arms industry can play in Australia to carry out this task”, added the minister, who came to power in the spring of 2022 after the victory of Labor in the legislative elections.
“The French industrial base is at the disposal of the Australian government”, approved his French counterpart, welcoming a “spectacular warming of the relationship” with Australia.
“The industrial aspect, it should not be made a prerequisite”, however warned Mr. Lecornu. “The real prerequisite is the sacrifice that Australians made for France during world conflicts,” he said.
France and Australia had signed in December 2016 a gigantic contract of 56 billion euros for the supply of 12 conventional submarines, derived from the future French nuclear submarines Barracuda.
But in September 2021, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that his country would acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of the new Aukus partnership with the United States and the United Kingdom, thus canceling the contract. French. Paris had denounced “a blow in the back” and recalled its ambassador, opening a diplomatic crisis.
“We were very saddened at the time by the negative impact these events had on our bilateral relationship,” Marles said. “It is critically important that our relationship moves forward with openness, respect and honesty,” he added.
Mr. Lecornu praised the “operational intimacy” between the French and Australian armies and said he wanted to “intensify” and France’s “projected force operations” in the Pacific, mentioning the possibility of “sending fighter planes , maybe every two months in the Pacific”.
© 2022 AFP
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