Speaking to French ambassadors in Paris, Macron said partnerships with African economies must become a core pillar of France’s growth strategy, spanning entrepreneurship, finance and the role of the diaspora.

“There is a timidity on the part of many that is no longer understandable,” Macron said. “I have asked the minister to really take an in-depth look at this. And basically, let’s bring more and more French groups to Africa.”

He added that this ambition will be discussed at a summit in May in Nairobi, to which India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have been invited, highlighting France’s intent to place Africa at the centre of its broader international economic outreach.

That retreat has created space for China, Gulf states, India and Russia to expand their economic and strategic footprints, offering African governments alternative sources of investment, financing and security partnerships.

The shift is also political. In much of Francophone Africa, public and elite opinion has turned more critical of France’s post-colonial role, often described as Françafrique.

Countries across the Sahel have forced French troops to leave and have sought new security partners, while members of the Alliance of Sahel States have explicitly rejected Paris’s influence in favour of non-Western allies.

These moves reflect a wider push by African governments to diversify their external relationships and assert greater sovereignty over security, resources and economic policy.

France’s renewed push to re-engage economically with Africa contrasts sharply with its earlier stance on the continent’s security.In July last year, France’s Minister Delegate for Francophone Affairs, Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, said the fallout from France’s military withdrawal from the Sahel “no longer concerns us.”

Source: Africabusinessinsider