Paris notified Moscow of its decision to postpone a meeting of the Russian-French Security Cooperation Council, which was expected to take place in the French capital on September 14, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a briefing on Friday.
“France has indeed notified us of its decision to postpone the Security Cooperation Council’s meeting scheduled for September 14, which was expected to involve the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries. Certain circumstances were cited as the reason,” she said.
According to her, the parties will once again consider new dates for the meeting once conditions are favorable and France shows willingness to discuss issues that have affected security in Europe and neighboring regions at the ministerial level.
Zakharova noted that the Security Cooperation Council, created in 2002 at the initiative of the two countries’ presidents, was an important platform for cooperation. The previous round of consultations took place in Moscow in September 2019.
“Preparations for another meeting took several weeks, and they still continue within bilateral working groups approved by the two presidents during a video conference on June 26,” the Russian diplomat said. “In particular, the inter-agency strategic dialogue on cyber security took place in Paris the day before yesterday, and today, Russian and French inter-agency delegations are discussing new challenges and threats there, while Moscow is hosting a meeting of a working group on Libya,” she said, adding that the next round of Russian-French consultations on Syria was set to be held on September 17.
Source : TASS
