President Joe Biden apologized to his French colleague Emmanuel macaroon on the US administration's conduct cancellation affair French submarine deal for Australia.
At the meeting held by Biden and rolling margins of the G-20 summit in Rome, the US president admitted to his French counterpart governments of the submarine affair was "clumsy "." It is not done very elegantly.
"I was under the impression that France knew long before that the deal would not go through, I swear to God," Biden said.
The US president added praise to France, stressing that France is a valuable and powerful partner in its own right.
"We've done a lot of things together: we've suffered together, we've celebrated together, and we appreciate the same things together. Nothing can ruin it. We're at one of the time points in world history where things are changing," Biden added.
Macron, for his part, contented himself with the brief statement: "We have clarified what needed to be clarified. Now it is important to ensure that such a situation does not recur in the future. What really matters is what we do together in the coming weeks, months and years to come."
Last September, the Australian government announced in surprise the cancellation of a multi-billion dollar purchase deal by French submarines.
It replaced them with U.S.-made nuclear submarines as part of a military alliance with the U.S. and Britain, designed to block Chinese expansion in the Pacific.
The alternative deal, woven behind the backs of the French, caused intense diplomatic tensions between Paris and Washington, until the French ambassador from the American capital returned.
Tensions also against Britain
While tensions between Paris and Washington were heightened at the meeting between the two presidents, the summit overshadowed growing tensions between France and Britain over the two-state dispute over fishing rights in the kingdom's maritime territory, in accordance with the Brexit agreement in question.
Britain has recently been denied - in light of its worsening economic crisis - French fishing vessels fishing permits in its maritime territory.
France, for its part, is threatening to close its ports to British vessels as well as further retaliatory measures.
President Macron has declared in Rome that the controversy is a test of Britain's global credibility.
British Prime Minister Boris Johansson said the conflict over fishing rights had damaged relations with France.
The summit in Rome, which will focus on climate crisis issues and the corona plague, is also attended by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who according to his associates is interested in meeting with Biden in Rome to resolve the dispute between Turkey and the US over the purchase of F35 fighter jets.
The US administration blocked the deal after it learned that Turkey had purchased air-defense systems from Russia, despite its membership in NATO. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated since Biden's entry into the White House. But Erdogan insisted on bringing the meeting forward.
