Foreign pool report #9 Macron's remarks Oval office

President Macron's remarks at the beginning of the Oval bilat:

"I want to thank Mr. President for his hospitality. We had a good discussion this morning for the G7 and for the third year of this war in Ukraine. And I think our common objective is to build peace and a solid and long standing peace, and this is what we will discuss, obviously, because I have great respect for bravery and the resistance of Ukrainian people, and we do share the objective of these, but we are very aware of the necessity to what guarantees in the solid peace in order to stabilize the situation. I'm here as a friend, because through centuries, we've been friends, and we are, we are personal friends that you mentioned it because we work very well together, and I think the US and France always stand on the same side, on the right side, I would say. And this is exactly what's at stake today. And this is a very important moment for Europe as well, and I'm here as well, after discussions with all my colleagues, to say that Europe is willing to step up to be a stronger partner, to

do more in defense and security for the continent, and as well, to be a reliable partner and to be engaged on trade, economy, investments in a lot of topics. So I'm very excited by the discussion we will have, and obviously we will follow up. And I want to thank you again, Mr. President, for your presence at notre Dame de Paris. It meant a lot for French people, and I want to thank you."

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Sonia Dridi

Correspondante � Washington DC

Washington DC Correspondent

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