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Trump to meet Macron in Paris on Saturday

By RFI
United States REUTERSJonathan Ernst
NOV 8, 2018 LISTEN
REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

US President Donald Trump and France's Emmanuel Macron are to meet in Paris on Saturday on the sidelines of ceremonies to mark the end of World War I. Trump will not be meeting Russian leader Vladimir Putin, as the Kremlin earlier suggested might be possible.

Trump and Macron will discuss the conflict in Syria and relations with Iran , according to a White House official who spoke to the AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.

The get-together will be Trump's only bilateral meeting during the ceremonies, which are to be attended by the leaders of at lest 60 countries .

The Kremlin had said there could be a Trump-Putin meeting but the US president said on Wednesday that such a meeting was not planned.

The ceremonies mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the war and the main one will take place at Paris's Arc de Triomphe at 11.00am on 11 November, marking the time fighting finally ended.

Trump will attend the ceremonies to "highlight the sacrifices that Americans have made, not only during World War I but also in the century since, in the name of liberty," the White House said.

He will also visit American cemeteries at Bois Belleau, in eastern France, and Suresnes in the Paris suburbs.

Trump and Macron last met on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September.

The US president and his wife Melania, who will accompany him this weekend, were delighted with their visit to Bastille Day celebrations in 2017, shortly after Macron was elected.

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