UK, French leaders hail 'new beginning'

Leaders of the UK and France have held their first summit in five years. They hailed the reunion and recommitted themselves to dealing with issues of security and migration.

Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron met in Paris on Friday.

Sunak's predecessors put the UK on a path to leave the European Union. He and Macron acknowledged that relations had also run into trouble over fishing rights, COVID vaccines and other issues.

Sunak told Macron they should mark a "new beginning."

He said, "We want to have a close, cooperative, collaborative relationship with our European partners and allies....and of course that starts with our nearest neighbor, France."

Macron said, "We want to push this new beginning further, and put it to good use to coordinate support for Ukraine."

The leaders have seen Russian troops make gains on the battlefield in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. They agreed to train Ukrainian marines and to better coordinate military aid.

They also said they would work to stop the flow of migrants crossing the English Channel. Since taking office in October, Sunak has made the issue a priority.

He agreed to pay France more than 500 million euros to set up a detention center and to add 500 French security officers to patrols.