Macron Tells Senegal President-elect France Wants To 'intensify Partnership'

Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Mar, 2024) President Emmanuel Macron on Friday told Senegal's anti-establishment president-elect Bassirou Diomaye Faye that France wanted to "continue and intensify the partnership" between their countries, his office said.

Macron offered Faye "warm congratulations" for his victory in last Sunday's presidential election, hailed the smooth unfolding of the vote and "the sovereign choice of the Senegalese people", his office said.

In their first telephone call since the election, Macron and Faye discussed the main areas of "bilateral cooperation and the regional situation", the Elysee Palace added.

Faye, 44, was released from prison just 10 days before the March 24 election and swept to victory in the first round against establishment candidate Amadou Ba.

His firebrand political mentor Ousmane Sonko has regularly railed against former colonial power France, but Faye said after his win that Senegal would remain a trustworthy ally of foreign partners.

That reassurance was welcomed by France, Senegal's main political and economic partner, which has seen its influence wane in its former West African colonies in recent years.