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In a first since these meetings started in the 1970s, this move reflects a change in France's thinking.
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Speaking at the Africa Forward Summit in the capital Nairobi on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron announced investments worth $27bn (£20bn) in Africa in areas such as energy transition, digital and AI, the maritime economy and agriculture.
"Africa is succeeding. It's the youngest continent in the world… and needs investment to become more self-reliant," he said, adding that this would create some 250,000 jobs in Africa, and in France.
"We are not simply here to come and invest on the African continent alongside you - we need the great African business leaders to come and invest in France," he told the audience at Nairobi's convention centre, reports the AFP news agency.
The two-day summit is aimed at broadening Paris's partnerships and making investment deals on the continent against a backdrop of rising anti-French sentiment and diminishing power in its former colonies, especially in West Africa. This reflects a step-change in how Paris thinks of its relationships with Africa.
For many years after independence in the 1960s, France maintained close economic, political and security ties in many of its former colonies, leading to widespread accusations that little had changed.
And French presidents over the years have held regular summits with African leaders - either in France or French-speaking Africa - until now.
Gilles Yabi, a Senegal-based political analyst focusing on relations between France and Africa, told the BBC's Newsday programme: "There's a new generation of Africans who… want to turn the page on colonialism and post-colonial influence."
Kenya's Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi called it an "opportunity for Africa to start speaking
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