PARIS (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting top officials in France to express America’s solidarity with the French people after last week’s deadly terrorist attacks.
As they greeted each other at the French foreign ministry Friday, Kerry explained to Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius that he couldn’t attend last Sunday’s unity march because he had been on a previously scheduled trip to India.
“It’s good to be with you,” Kerry said. “We have a lot to talk about.”
Kerry’s visit comes amid lingering criticism of the Obama administration’s failure to send a cabinet-level official to Paris for the unity march, which attracted some 40 world leaders and more than a million demonstrators.
Kerry was seeing Fabius and French President Francois Hollande Friday morning before laying wreaths at the sites of the two attacks. Kerry, who said he was coming “to share a big hug with Paris,” will then join the mayor of the city at an event that is to include a short performance by musician James Taylor.