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French President Emmanuel Macron has welcomed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the presidential palace in Paris.
Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon were welcomed to the Elysee Palace by Macron and his wife Brigitte on Saturday (Friday night AEST).
The Australian prime minister is on a mission to re-build Australia’s relationship with France to “what it should be”
It’s the first time the two leaders have had talks at this level since the axed submarine deal between Australia and France under the Morrison government.
Albanese and Macron spoke privately in Madrid this week on the sidelines of the special NATO summit.
Ahead of the meeting in France, Albanese would not be drawn over whether he would apologise for breaking the submarine deal, instead stating it is all about the future.
“What I want to do, though, is to make sure that we can look forward,” he told reporters.
“Look forward in a way that builds the relationship to what it should be.
“It should be a relationship in which we can rely upon each other as we have for a long period of time and in which we can trust each other.”
France is the current president of the European Union, which means Australia needs the country’s support in order to secure a free trade deal with the EU by early next year.
