France, June 30 -- French President Emmanuel Macron and Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina will meet in Paris on Monday to discuss the future of the long-disputed Scattered Islands - a chain of uninhabited islets in the Indian Ocean with big geopolitical, ecological and symbolic value.

The bilateral commission, the first of its kind since 2019, marks acautious reopening of dialogue over the Îles Eparses (Scattered Islands) - five islets run by France but claimed by Madagascar since the 1970s.

All the islands are nature preserves with a total land area of just 43km². But they each come with an exclusive economic zone (EEZ), giving the governing country rights to resources in more than 640,000km² of nearby waters full o...