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French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants to rebuild ties with Australia in his first phone call with new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Macron said the relationship between the two nations should be based on “trust and respect” in his phone call last night with Albanese.
Franco-Australian relations sunk to a historic low last year after the former Morrison government scrapped a $90 billion submarines contract with a French defence contractor.
The French Government said In a statement Albanese and Macron talked for more than 20 minutes, the Reuters news agency reported.
The two leaders agreed the two nations needed to repair relations to jointly face international challenges.
Macron and Albanese agreed to work towards strengthening peace and security in the Indo-Pacific in the face of a more assertive China.
Albanese said the conversation was “warm and constructive” in a social media post.
He said the pair discussed a free and open Indo-Pacific, greater co-operation on climate and energy policy and support for Ukraine.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison angered Macron when Australia joined the AUKUS defence pact with the US and Britain last year.
Under the deal, Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
Macron was furious that France was only informed of the alliance hours before the public announcement was made.
France later condemned Morrison’s decision to leak a private text message from Macron after the contract was scrapped.
As a result, France withdrew its ambassador to Australia for a short time.
