SECRETARY OF DEFENSE LLOYD J. AUSTIN III: Well, Minister Lecornu, thanks for being here today. We're proud to have France as our oldest ally, and in the spirit of Lafayette, we're delighted to welcome you as a part of the first state visit of the Biden administration.
It's great seeing you again after our last meeting back in June in the margins of the NATO Defense Ministerial. Since then, Russia has continued its war of choice against Ukraine, and the Kremlin's forces have shown deliberate cruelty, targeting Ukraine’s civilians and civilian infrastructure. But Ukrainian citizens and troops have responded with the magnificent defiance that the world now knows so well, and in the face of Russia's aggression, NATO is more united and more resolute than ever.
The United States is grateful for France's contributions to Ukraine's fight to defend itself, and we're committed to working with you to help keep that support strong. Our alliance with France isn't just grounded in our common strategic interests; it's also rooted in our shared understanding of the importance of diplomacy and our determination to strengthen the rules-based international order forged at such great cost after World War II.
So we're proud to renew the 2016 statement of intent between the U.S. Department of Defense and France's Ministry of the Armed Forces today. It deepens our ongoing defense cooperation today and into the future. This document upholds our commitments to counter terrorism across the globe, from Africa to the Indo-Pacific, it bolsters our cooperation in space and cyber domains and it builds up our resilience against hybrid threats. By renewing this statement of intent today, we are raising the level of ambition in our bilateral defense partnership and we're deepening our common commitment to work toward a world that's more secure, just and free.
So, Mr. Minister, thanks for your leadership. Thanks for being here today. We're delighted to have you. We look forward to a great conversation.
MINISTER OF THE ARMED FORCES SEBASTIEN LECORNU (THROUGH TRANSLATOR): Thank you, Mr. Minister (sic), for (inaudible).
I do thank two people in particular before we start working. I'm grateful for the friendship when I was appointed minister of defense, and you welcomed me into the family. You were my first meeting at Shangri-La. And because I am the grandson of a French resident, I'm from Normandy, and I grew up there, so I'm very grateful to be here to have this meeting in the Pentagon. I grew up somewhere where every June we have American and British flags along with the French flags to remember those who made the sacrifice to help us. So we a duty.
And mainly because security as it stands today, is very degraded. France has its history, its freedom, and France has always been a reliable partner, and we live up to our promises.
We have a particular history with Africa and the Indo-Pacific. We are the last power European Union with territories in the Pacific, so we have a global approach to these security questions. And with our own character with and our own analyses, we hope that with (this) joint document we are signing, we can go further in this.
It's very clear that Ukraine has had its worked (inaudible) for the past few weeks, and I would like to commend the coordination work that you have been committing on [this topics]. NATO does work, and the relationship with the EU works as well. I know you've made sure that this coordination was possible.
We still have some work to do, but thank you very much for this meeting.
SEC. AUSTIN: Well, again, thanks for being here, and I look forward to a great conversation.