Sawt Falasteen - Macron welcomes Canada's Carney to French Atlantic territory

The leaders' meeting was being held at a time when both their countries were experiencing strained relations with the United States.

Macron was waiting for Carney as he stepped off his airplane and the two leaders greeted each other with a warm handshake and a long embrace in the bright sunshine.

They were expected to confirm Canada's close relations with both France and the European Union in a joint statement following a working lunch.

"In a world in crisis, our friendship is a strength," Macron posted on X, above a video of him welcoming Carney at the airport.

"Together, we affirm our sovereignty, our freedom to decide and our willingness to build a future of peace and prosperity," he added.

Carney is the first Canadian prime minister to visit the territory.

Macron's three-day visit to the French territory, a three-island archipelago of fewer than 6,000 people just 25 kilometres (15 miles) off Newfoundland, is the first by a French president in more than a decade.

- Tensions with US -

The trip carries significant symbolic resonance.

The archipelago is France's only remaining possession in North America, a vestige of the vast territories Paris once controlled in what is now Canada and the United States.

Macron argues that US President Donald Trump's second mandate has reinforced the case he has promoted that Europe needs to become more sovereign, especially on security.

Carney, caught up in an intensifying dispute with US President Donald Trump -- who has even threatened to annex Canada -- has welcomed a proposal for his country to become the European Union's first "associate member".

He has described his nation as "the most European of non-European countries".

Trump's repeated remarks about making Canada the 51st US state have been strongly rejected by Ottawa.

On Monday, Trump posted an image to social media with a map of North America in which Canada, Greenland and Mexico, much of central America and the Caribbean, as well as Iceland, were coloured in with the US flag.

The image also encompassed several French overseas territories, such as Guadeloupe, Martinique -- and Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

But the territory is French, Macron reaffirmed on his arrival in the territory late Saturday: "It's obvious," he added, dismissing "strange ideas" on the subject.

- 'Common values' -

The joint visit will underscore that Canada and France share "the same values of freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for the sovereignty of nations", the French president's office said ahead of the meeting.

"In a world marked by the return of power politics, geopolitical tensions and new forms of dependency, France and Canada share a common ambition: to work together, and with all countries that share these values, to strengthen their capacity to make decisions and act independently," the Elysee Palace added.

Carney's office quoted him as saying that "Canada and France share more than a border.

"We share a history, common values, and a resolute commitment to building a more secure and prosperous world. In an uncertain world, President Macron and I understand the importance of this relationship."

The archipelago is one of several strategically located French overseas territories that span the globe, and has economic and social problems familiar to many such remote territories.

In what French officials describe as France's first climate-driven community relocation, the village of Miquelon has started moving inland to escape the growing threat of sea level rise, with a second phase due to begin.

The population is falling, deaths outnumber births and young people leave to study in mainland France or Canada and often do not come back.

E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST