French President Emmanuel Macron began a three-country African tour on Saturday, May 9, with a stop in Alexandria, where he joined Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on a visit to Egypt. opening A new campus for Senghor University, a French-language institution dedicated to training African professionals in governance, health and sustainable development.
The new Singour campus is located in the Borg El Arab area on the outskirts of Alexandria. It extends over an area of ten acres and includes academic buildings, a conference hall, and residential facilities. Macron described the project as a “wonderful global initiative.” He praised Egypt’s commitment to invest 60 million euros (3.72 billion pounds) in the university, considering that Francophonie “belongs to everyone who chooses to embrace the French language.”
The visit had a weight beyond ceremonial. The two leaders held extensive talks in which they reaffirmed their strategic partnership and discussed the war in Gaza, with President Sisi outlining Egypt’s efforts to strengthen the ceasefire, facilitate humanitarian aid, and promote a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
Macron said that France is keen to deepen its economic partnership with Egypt, praising the volume of bilateral trade and French investments in the country. Trade between the two countries will reach a record level of US$2.9 billion (152.9 billion Egyptian pounds) in 2024, with nearly 940 French companies currently operating in the Egyptian market.
The visit also produced an unexpected viral moment, as videos of Macron spread across Egyptian social media Jogging Through central Alexandria without any road closures, traffic flows naturally around it. Local commentators praised the scene as a testament to Egypt’s stability. The day ended on a more celebratory note, with the two leaders touring Qaitbay Citadel before Macron, at a state dinner, called Alexandria a “global beacon of science and culture.”
From Egypt, Macron will travel to Kenya, where he will co-host the “Africa Forward” summit, the first gathering of its kind in an English-speaking country since he took office in 2017, before concluding the tour in Addis Ababa on Wednesday for talks at the headquarters of the African Union. The journey is Widely seen As France seeks to rebuild its position on the continent, anti-French sentiment is growing, especially in the former West African colonies.