It follows sharp criticism of the Obama administration for not sending a senior official to Sunday`s rally for unity in Paris that was attended by some 40 world leaders and more than a million people.
The secretary of state said Monday he "would have personally very much wanted to have been there but couldn`t do so because I had commitments here (in India) and it is important to keep these kinds of commitments."
Kerry said he is going to France to reaffirm U.S. solidarity with America`s oldest ally. He said as soon as he heard about the march, he asked his team what the earliest time was that he could go.
"I want to emphasize that the relationship with France is not about one day or one particular moment," Kerry said. "It is an ongoing longtime relationship that is deeply, deeply based in the shared values, and particularly the commitment that we share to freedom of expression."
The White House had no official comment on President Obama`s absence from the rally in Paris.
While in Paris, Kerry will be meeting with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and pay tribute to the victims of last week`s attacks, which killed 17 people. The attacks are linked to radical Islam.
Around 10,000 security forces are being deployed in France on Monday to protect Jewish and places of worship schools following the attacks. The French government said it is hunting for "probable accomplices" of the attackers.
Against opposition from Germany`s justice minister, on Monday nationalists there intend to hold a massive march demonstrating against Islam.
In a separate development, Turkey`s foreign minister confirmed that the spouse of one of the suspected Paris attackers crossed into Syria from Turkey the day before her husband killed four people in a kosher supermarket.
Hayat Boumediene, 26, spent about a week in Istanbul before entering Syria on Jan. 8, Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
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