Chairman Meets with the French Ambassador at Red Sea World

The Chairman received at Red Sea World H.E. Jérôme Bresson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic in Djibouti.

The importance of Djibouti’s geostrategic location is linked to the construction of the Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean built by the French and the first railway in Africa, Djibouti-Addis Abeba which started in 1897 and completed in 1917.

Discussions focused on attracting more French companies to Djibouti’s free zones, where they can benefit from the country’s strategic position as a gateway to the COMESA market, which represents more than 600 million consumers. There is also the ZLECAF market with currently 1.3 billion consumers projected to reach 2.5 billion in 2050.

The exchanges also centered on the Sea–Air cargo initiative, a multi-modal logistics solution combining maritime and air transport to significantly reduce transit time and provide access to 25 African countries and 28 cities.

There is a major project jointly developed with the Airports of Paris (Group ADP): the International Airport at Bicidley, covering 4,600 hectares, designed in its first phase to handle 100,000 tons of cargo and 1 million passengers

The meeting further addressed the role of Djibouti Shipping Company, currently chartered to CMA CGM, which operates cabotage services across  Jeddah, Aden, Sudan and Massawa.

Aspides-Eunavfor has priority berthing in Berths 9, 10 and 11 to support  free navigation on the Bab el Mandeb and the Red Sea.