On May 7, the Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa Maksym Subkh met with Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine Gaël Veyssière.

During the meeting, the parties discussed a wide range of issues of the Ukraine-France bilateral dialogue.

The main attention was paid to the development of Ukraine’s relations with the countries of Africa and the Middle East. Maksym Subkh informed the interlocutor about the intensification of Ukraine’s cooperation with the countries of the African continent, in particular, about the official opening of new diplomatic missions of Ukraine in six African countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, the Republic of Ghana, the Republic of Botswana, the Republic of Mozambique and the Republic of Rwanda.

The Ukrainian diplomat informed the Ambassador of France about the preparations for the inaugural Global Peace Summit, which will be held this June in Switzerland, highlighting the steps taken by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to encourage the leaders of the countries of the Global South to participate in the Summit.

The parties exchanged their views on global challenges related to events in the Middle East and the African continent, stressed the importance of joining efforts of Ukraine and France in order to effectively counter Russian influence in the African countries, including in the information sphere.