France and Australia to Manufacture Howitzers for Ukraine

On Tuesday, France and Australia announced that they would jointly produce 155mm artillery shells for shipment to Ukraine.

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This announcement was made after a meeting that the foreign and defense ministers from both countries held to normalize bilateral diplomatic relations, which were affected by the cancellation of a contract for the construction of submarines in 2021.

On the French side, the ministers Catherine Colonna (Foreign Affairs) and Sebastien Lecornu (Defense) participated, and on the Australian side their Australian counterparts Penny Wong and Richard Marles.

The talks "reflect the common desire to re-establish a dynamic bilateral relationship, founded on trust and common interests, in accordance with the priorities" agreed upon by French President Emmanuel Macron and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at their meeting in July 2022, French diplomacy said in a statement.

During their meeting in Paris, the authorities of both countries also addressed issues related to cooperation in the Pacific region, the protection of biodiversity, the global climate crisis, and the political situation in Iran.

The Australian ministers will later travel to the United Kingdom to hold meetings aimed at strengthening security cooperation with that country.

Relations between Paris and Canberra had deteriorated in 2021, when Australia's former Prime Minister Scott Morrison canceled the contract of about 55,000 million euros with a consortium led by the French state-owned company Naval Group, which hoped to build a dozen conventional submarines.