French president set to visit Algeria next week to improve strained relations
France is seeking to build bridges with Algeria as Macron announced on Saturday that he plans to visit the north African country next week in an attempt to improve strained relations.
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Macron said he hoped that tensions with Algeria could ease after a row over visas and critical comments by Paris [source: Getty]
French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Algeria next week in a bid to improve strained ties between Paris and Algiers, the French presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
"This trip will contribute to deepening the bilateral relationship looking to the future... to reinforce Franco-Algerian cooperation in the face of regional challenges and to continue the work of addressing the past," the French presidency said after a call between Macron and his opposite number Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune.
Algeria won its independence from France following a gruelling eight-year war, which ended in 1962 with the signing of the Evian Accords.
Memories of the 132-year occupation continue to mar the north African country's ties with Paris.
French-Algerian ties hit a low late last year after Macron reportedly questioned whether Algeria had existed as a nation before the French invasion and accused its "politically-military system" of rewriting history and fomenting "hatred towards France".
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