G7 foreign ministers open talks in Paris on Monday, as France says European governments will be represented in U.S.-mediated Ukraine negotiations starting a day later in Abu Dhabi and overlapping on Nov. 10.
The French foreign ministry scheduled the meeting for Nov. 9-10 under France’s G7 presidency. It said ministers would take stock of work since their March gathering at Vaux-de-Cernay and align responses to current crises. Listed priorities include Ukraine’s capacity, financing and energy needs, Middle East stability, and efforts to broaden and protect energy supplies.
RTL reported that the Abu Dhabi meeting is planned as a trilateral negotiation involving envoys from Kyiv, Washington and Moscow. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told the broadcaster France and other European governments would be represented. Barrot said Europeans had urged the U.S. mediator to account for their expectations in discussions affecting the continent, but he did not name France’s representative.
The U.S. State Department scheduled Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s Paris trip for Nov. 8-10. France 24 reported Rubio was expected to attend both G7 meeting days, after attending one day of the March gathering; the department’s notice confirms his travel dates but does not specify which meeting sessions he will attend.
France 24 also reported European ministers would press Washington for a fair settlement in Ukraine and against possible further U.S. strikes on Iran. France’s published agenda lists Ukraine and Middle East priorities but does not identify those specific demands. In a July 21 exchange captured in a U.S. government transcript, U.S. President Donald Trump said, “We’ll be hitting that area very—probably pretty soon,” referring to Pickaxe Mountain. He also said he had no record Iran had moved centrifuges there.
The Paris meeting opens Monday, Nov. 9, and the Abu Dhabi talks are scheduled to begin the following day and run through Nov. 11, RTL reported.
