Transcript of World leaders convene as Notre Dame reconstruction unveiled in Paris

Alright. We're gonna turn now to Paris where world leaders are gathering to celebrate the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral. You are taking a live look now at images of Paris as the leaders descend upon the cathedral. President-elect Donald Trump kicking off his first foreign trip since reelection by meeting with French president Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of those celebrations. Here you can see the part of that meeting.

Macron offering president-elect a warm welcome upon his arrival, calling his visit, quote, a great honor for the French people. Trump, in return, touting the close relationship between the 2 countries.

We had a good time together, and we had a lot of a lot of success, really great success working together on, defense and offense too. And it certainly seems like the world is, going a little crazy right now. Yeah. And we'll be talking about that.

Alright. Here here to tell us more is ABC News chief international correspondent James Longman from Paris and ABC News White House correspondent Mary Alice Parks in DC. James, wanna start with you. What more do we know about this meeting between Trump, Zelensky, and Macron?

Well, it went for quite a while, actually. The 3 of them were sat for the cameras, but then they were shown out. And the 3 of them sat, I think, for about half an hour speaking. Actually, Volodymyr Zelensky came out of that meeting and tweeted almost immediately saying he had a good and productive trilateral meeting. And he said, crucially, president Trump is, as always, resolute.

I thank him. I also extend my gratitude to Emmanuel for organizing this important meeting. He also said, we all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way. And I think that really underscores why, this was really important for president Zelensky to make his way, to France. We know that he spoke to, president Trump not long after, his election victory, to congratulate him, but this is the first time the 2 have been able to meet properly because the Ukrainians are in desperate need, let's be honest, of a deal.

The war is going very badly in Ukraine. They blame it, and I spoke to Ukrainian officials last week, they blame it on the weapons deliveries coming in drip fed over the last, 3 years rather than immediately as they wanted them. They felt they could have pushed Russia out. That hasn't happened. Now they're on the back foot, really are losing a lot of territory in the east of Ukraine.

So he's here really to try to on begin on the front foot with the American president, elect. I think conventional wisdom might suggest that because Biden lost the election, because the Democrats are now no longer gonna be in the executive, that's not not a good thing for Ukraine. But Ukrainian officials were really, really pressed to tell me that they don't feel that's the case. They are optimistic they can get a deal, and they just feel like person to person, president Zelensky would have a good relationship with Donald Trump. I think it's also important to say Emmanuel Macron, another person who really needed this meeting to present stability in France.

His government is on the brink of collapse. His position doesn't look necessarily tenuous and the fact that he doesn't want to, step down, but he doesn't have a government at at the moment either. So for both of those men, Donald Trump, it's an opportunity for them look to look state like, and for president Zelensky, of course, to try to make a plan for the future of his country, which is gonna work for Ukraine and not just for Vladimir Putin.

Mary Alice, the transition for the next administration is in full swing. The current first lady, Jill Biden, is in Paris for this event, but not the current president.

Yeah. And president Biden was, at a big event at the White House yesterday. His team said that it was just a scheduling conflict. But, look, we know that president-elect Trump has been busy. He's had several meetings with foreign leaders in the last few weeks since his election win and now, this trip.

Obviously, everything that is happening in Ukraine, Russia's invasion, the war there, the threat to NATO by proximity, front of mind like James was talking about, but that's not all. I mean, president-elect Trump has made sweeping threats around trade and tariffs. So you can imagine all of these world leaders that we're seeing him there as sort of greet as he arrives at the cathedral, you know, have a lot on their plate and a lot on their minds when they're greeting the the American president-elect, Phil.

James, 1 1 final question. The the the Notre Dame reopening ceremony is set to begin, what, any minute now. All of these leaders are gathering there for this. This is a big moment 5 years later. What are you watching for today?

Yeah. I mean, look. This is this is a huge moment for France. So they've been waiting for this for more than 5 years. I mean, I was here watching as that cathedral burned or at least as the firefighters put out their last flames.

So it's really been such a journey. I've been multiple times over the years to see it slowly coming back together. It is a symbol of France, and 1 that so many people here are just so so thrilled to see. There will be this major ceremony today, where Emmanuel Macron will speak. There will be, an opening ceremony.

Afterwards, there's going to be a concert. There are all kinds of famous musicians appearing tomorrow with their first chance that worshipers will be able to get back into Notre Dame. And so, finally, the French will have their cathedral back. It's really a moment for celebration and celebrating all the extraordinary crafts and and skills that that have been really restored as a result of this huge project, the biggest restoration project, really, in a generation, from carpentry to stonemasonry to metalwork. I mean, it's just incredible what they've done, and really worth coming to visit.

Phil?

Yeah. Absolutely. And the world watching as well. It's nice 5 years later to see this. James Longman, Mary Alice Parks, thanks so much.