France ready to take part in Crimean Platform summit – Kuleba
He said this at a joint press conference with Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs of France Jean-Yves Le Drian on Friday, February 26, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
"I am grateful that France welcomes the Crimea Platform initiative, confirms its readiness to take part in its inaugural summit, and the format of participation will be directly determined taking into account the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic on the date of its holding," the minister noted.
Kuleba said that he had informed his French counterpart about the Crimean Platform and invited French President Emmanuel Macron to take part in it.
The Ukrainian foreign minister hopes that France will play an important role in the protection of international law, human rights and the de-occupation of Crimea.
At the same time, he thanked the French partners for their "consistent and principled" support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity and efforts within the framework of the Normandy format.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba is on a working visit to France on February 26.
As reported, the Crimean Platform is a new consultative and coordination format initiated by Ukraine to improve the efficiency of the international response to the occupation of Crimea, respond to growing security challenges, step up international pressure on Russia, prevent further human rights violations, protect victims of the occupying power and to achieve the de-occupation of Crimea and its return to Ukraine.
The Crimean Platform is expected to operate at the level of heads of state and government, foreign ministers, in the dimension of inter-parliamentary cooperation and expert network.
The Crimean Platform is to be launched officially at an inaugural summit in Kyiv on August 23, 2021.
Photo credit: Twitter / DmytroKuleba
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