UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday that the United Kingdom and France shared a historically strong relationship despite disagreements as London is bracing for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to show its commitment to maintaining good ties with European partners after the Brexit
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th June, 2020) UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday that the United Kingdom and France shared a historically strong relationship despite disagreements as London is bracing for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to show its commitment to maintaining good ties with European partners after the Brexit.
Macron is scheduled to arrive in London later in the day. The visit, among other things, is to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the historic appeal of World War II-period French President Charles de Gaulle to the nation for resistance through the Nazi occupation. The speech was broadcast on radio from London, where General de Gaulled was at the time on June 18, 1940.
"In our darkest hour, we stood shoulder to shoulder, and it shows the strength of our relationship," Raab told the LBC radio broadcaster.
Macron is expected to bestow Legion d'Honneur, the highest French order of merit, upon the city of London, which, Raab said, shows the strength of relations between France and the United Kingdom despite that they "squabble quite a bit over various different things."
"We are leaving the European Union, but we have always said that we are going to show that we can develop even stronger relationships with our European neighbors, and this is a good illustration of that," Raab said.
The UK foreign secretary further described the cooperation on COVID-19 between the UK and France as "brilliant," along with the bilateral cooperation on Iran and Hong Kong.
