Algeria, August 26 (BNA) French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that he agreed with his Algerian counterpart to work to combat illegal immigration while ensuring more flexible ways for citizens of the North African country to come to France legally.
Macron’s comments came Friday during a three-day visit to Algeria aimed at restoring relations between the two countries, after a major diplomatic crisis erupted last year over the visa issue, the Associated Press reported.
Tensions have been heightened by a French decision to reduce the number of visas issued to people in North Africa, including Algeria, because governments there refuse to take back migrants expelled from France.
The two countries resumed cooperation in December.
Speaking to reporters in Algiers, Macron acknowledged that the “sensitive” issue was under discussion until late last night with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, during a meeting and dinner at the presidential palace.
“We share the same will” to implement policies to combat illegal immigration and human trafficking, Macron said. This includes being “more efficient” in returning people illegally residing in France to Algeria, he said.
He added that France wanted to have a “more flexible approach” to providing visas to families of dual French and Algerian nationals, artists, athletes and businessmen.
Macron said France wanted to strengthen its economic partnership with Algeria. The country is a major partner in supplying gas to the European continent, a situation that was reinforced amid the war in Ukraine.
France depends on Algeria for about 8% of its gas imports. A new contract was not expected to be signed during the visit.
On Friday morning, Macron visited the Christian and Jewish cemetery in Saint Eugen in Algiers, where he paid tribute to the French who died during the Algerian war of independence.
Macron, the first French president to be born after the end of the war in 1962, promised to reckon with the mistakes of the colonial era. France occupied the country for 132 years.
On Thursday, Macron and Tebboune agreed to form a joint committee of historians to discuss the past from the beginning of French colonialism in 1830 until Algeria’s independence.
Macron is scheduled to hold another meeting with Tebboune on Friday to discuss peace and stability in the region. He was also scheduled to go to the Great Mosque of Algiers later in the day, before heading to Oran, the second largest city in the country.
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