Secretary Antony J. Blinken And French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné After Their Meeting

FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ: (In French.)

Hello ladies and gentlemen (inaudible).

For this visit to Paris, we discussed international news, which is rather heated, that you have reported in the media, notably on the great crises that we have discussed, notably the Middle East, Ukraine and the preparation of the UN General Assembly which will take place in a few days. This is a special moment for me because it is my last media appearance as Minister of Foreign Affairs as I am a candidate for the European Commission. In this context, I welcome you with pleasure and we are going to start our relation with these first remarks which are also the last remarks this dynamic.

Together, we are calling on all parties in the Middle East for a de-escalation. We are very worried about the situation, so much so that we coordinated to send a message of de-escalation (inaudible). Lebanon would not recover from a total war. We are with the Lebanese, in coordination with the Americans, to send this message.

On, Ukraine we also discussed the situation. For months now - I have been mobilized now for months with our diplomatic apparatus to look into how to avoid the bypassing of sanctions, continuing particularly to support the Ukrainian people and we will continue to support Ukraine in these conditions until the conflict ends and until Russia ends its aggression in Ukraine. For the UN General Assembly: we are going to prepare this General Assembly, particularly an event that is very important for us on the fight against antisemitism and on hate speech, in line with UNESCO. We are organizing this event and I was pleased to invite U.S. representatives to participate in this event, which is also important and symbolic for us in a moment that is complicated in the region. Voilà, thank you. I will stop here. We will have the chance to discuss with the president of the Republic because a meeting is planned, and then with our colleagues tonight in a wider dinner.

SECRETARY BLINKEN: (In French.)

(In English) And just to say to all of our colleagues here, we of course talked about all of the front-burner issues that we're dealing with. And France and the United States are united in calling for restraint and urging de-escalation when it comes to the Middle East in general and when it comes to Lebanon in particular. We continue to work to get a ceasefire for Gaza over the finish line. And as we discussed with some of you just a day ago in Egypt, we believe that remains both possible and necessary. But meanwhile, we don't want to see any escalatory actions by any party that make that even more difficult.

There is a real problem that needs to be resolved when it comes to northern Israel and southern Lebanon, and that is the fact that since October 8th, Hizballah has been firing rockets into Israel, and Israel's been firing back. The population in both northern Israel and southern Lebanon has had to flee their homes, and we all want to see them be able to go back to their homes. And that requires a secure environment.

France and the United States believe strongly and are working together toward a diplomatic resolution and an agreement that would create the conditions for security that would allow people to return to their homes. And we talked about that today.

When it comes to Ukraine, France and the United States remain in total solidarity with our friends in Ukraine against the ongoing Russian aggression. And we talked about the months ahead and the work that we and so many other countries are doing to support Ukraine as it takes the necessary steps to be able to stand on its own feet militarily, economically, democratically. That is the best measure of Ukraine's long-term success. And we're united in supporting its efforts.

We're also united in trying to make sure that those who are fueling the continuation of the war - including Iran by sending ballistic missiles to Russia - know consequences for those actions. And we're very pleased at the steps that have been taken to impose some consequences on Iran for that, including stopping the support for Iran Air in certain countries, including in France, and other steps that we're all looking at.

Finally, we talked about the UN General Assembly, the work that our countries are doing together in so many different areas to try to advance progress, opportunity, and to deal with the many challenges that we face. But as always, we take confidence from the fact that France and the United States are together in facing these problems. And from the work that we're doing in all of the places that I just talked about, and so many other areas, that creates a source of strength and opportunity that we'll continue to work on together.

Thank you.

FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ:Merci.

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