PARIS: Outgoing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday began a visit to Paris in which he will receive France’s highest honour and seek further coordination on the turbulent Middle East.
The top US diplomat arrived early on Wednesday in Paris after stops in Japan and South Korea on what is expected to be his final trip before he is slated to be replaced with Marco Rubio once President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated on January 20, according to an AFP reporter travelling with him.
Blinken will meet President Emmanuel Macron, who will decorate him with the Legion of Honour, France’s highest order of merit.
The award will be especially poignant for Blinken, a fluent French speaker who spent part of his childhood in Paris and has spoken of France’s role in forming his worldview.
The decision to recognise Blinken also shows the full turnaround in relations since the start of President Joe Biden’s term in 2021, when France was infuriated after the United States forged a new three-way alliance with Britain and Australia that resulted in the rescinding of a lucrative contract for French submarines.
Biden and Blinken have repeatedly said that their priority has been to nurture ties with US allies and partners – a sharp contrast with Trump, who even before taking office has not ruled out military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Blinken will also meet Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot for talks focused on the Middle East including Syria, where rebel forces toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad last month.
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Barrot visited Damascus last week with his German counterpart, part of cautious Western efforts to engage with the new Syrian leadership and encourage stability after a brutal civil war that contributed to the rise of the Islamic State group and a migration crisis that rocked European politics.
Blinken on Monday said that he will also work until his final hours in the job for a ceasefire in Gaza, as the United States and Qatar step up indirect diplomacy between Israel and Hamas.
Blinken on Thursday will head to Rome for talks with European counterparts on Syria before joining Biden on his final international trip in which the US president will see Pope Francis.
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