PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that historic injustice was imposed on Haiti when it was forced to pay a colossal indemnity to France in exchange for its independence 200 years ago.

Macron also announced the creation of a joint French-Haitian historical commission to ‘’examine our shared past’’ and assess relations, but did not directly address longstanding Haitian demands for reparations.

France ″subjected the people of Haiti to a heavy financial indemnity, … This decision placed a price on the freedom of a young nation, which was thus confronted with the unjust force of history from its very inception,’’ Macron said in a statement.

It comes on the 200th anniversary of the April 17, 1825 document issued by King Charles X of France, which recognized Haiti’s independence after a slave revolt — but also imposed a 150 million gold francs debt as compensation for the loss of France’s colony and enslaved labor force.

Although the indemnity was later reduced to 90 million gold francs, the debt crippled the Caribbean nation, which continued to pay it off through French and American banks until 1947. Economists estimate it’s the equivalent of billions of dollars today.