French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he wanted to build the future of Franco-Algerian relations by confronting a painful colonial past but also by focusing on future challenges.

“We have a complex, painful common past. And it has at times prevented us from looking at the future,” Macron said after meeting with Algeria President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on the first of a three-day visit to the North African country.

He said a joint committee with historians from both Algeria and France will be set up to study the archives on both sides on the colonial period.