U2 singer Bono talks development aid with French president Macron

IRISH rock star Bono, founder of the ONE campaign against poverty and disease, met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who stressed his wish to increase development aid, according to the U2 frontman.
"I never had many conversations quite like that, a president very open to finding new, innovative ways to solve the problems affecting the world's poor," Bono told reporters after the meeting at the French presidential palace.
"We talked about the refugee crisis and how most Europeans now understand that what happens in Africa matters to them," the Irish singer and humanitarian added.
Macron "reconfirmed" his commitment to increase development aid to 0.55% of GDP by 2022, the singer told journalists, a move he described as "really important for all our campaigners".
The French government has decided to cut its aid development budget for 2017 as part of wider cost-cutting measures, a move which has been criticised by Bono's ONE group.
Bono also met with French first lady Brigitte Macron, a former teacher, discussing "how to deal with 30 million girls not going to school".
The U2 singer is no stranger to the Elysee Palace having already met Macron's predecessors Jacques Chirac, Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.
Emmanuel Macron will continue meeting on Wednesday with Barbadian singer-songwriter Rihanna, ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education, to discuss France's funding of international education after she brought up the matter on Twitter last month. — AFP