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Malian president in France to seek support for peace process

President Hollande greeted visit of Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta by announcing total of 360 million euros in loans and grants to Mali by 2017.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Malian president Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta is seeking political and financial support for the country's peace process during a two-day state visit to France, reports Yahoo! News.

Keita met French president François Hollande on Wednesday ahead of a dinner at the Elysée palace to celebrate the first state visit by a Malian president since the country's independence from France in 1960.

On Thursday an international conference for the economic recovery and development of Mali is to be held at the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

"It's very important for us to be able to call on the international financial community to invest heavily in Mali," Hollande said during a press conference.

Read more of this Associated Press report published by Yahoo! News.