France, Chad move to strengthen defense partnership

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday the signing of a declaration of intent to strenghten defense partnership with Chad, as he welcomed the Central African country's President Mahamat Idriss Deby in Paris.

"With the signing of a declaration of intent today, we are taking a new step and formalizing the strengthening of our defense partnership, in line with a renewed relationship," Macron wrote on US social media company X.

"Together, we are building a partnership based on mutual respect and concrete cooperation for the benefit of our peoples, particularly in the cultural and economic fields, with significant progress for our businesses," he added.