London. September 20. INTERFAX-The meeting of French Defense Ministers Florence Parly and Great Britain's Ben Wallace, which was supposed to take place this week, was canceled due to Paris ' dissatisfaction with Australia's decision to build nuclear submarines within the framework of AUKUS, The Guardian reports.
According to the publication, Wallace and Parley were supposed to hold a bilateral meeting in London and speak at a two-day event of the Franco-British Council analytical center.
The Council's co-chairman, Peter Ricketts, confirmed that the meeting had been " postponed to a later date."
"Without holding the event, it is clear that Parly's planned trip to London is considered unnecessary," the publication notes.
Meanwhile, British sources told the newspaper that they hoped that the meetings would continue.
"We have a strong and close defense partnership with the French as reliable allies," one of the interlocutors said.
The publication notes that Paris is outraged that Australia refused a lucrative contract for new diesel submarines with a French contractor.
According to media reports, the meeting was canceled at the request of Paris.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the creation of a new trilateral security partnership - AUKUS. According to the leaders, the alliance will help protect the interests of the three countries in the Indo-Pacific region and will allow Australia to build nuclear submarines for the first time, refusing to purchase them from France. The contract for the construction of submarines with the French company Naval Group was signed for $90 billion.