President El-Sisi Meets with France’s Prime Minister

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met today in Paris with Prime Minister of France, Jean Castex, at the headquarters of the French Council of Ministers.

The Spokesman for the Egyptian Presidency stated that the meeting addressed issues of bilateral relations between Egypt and France in several areas, particularly in the fields of major development projects, services, energy, transportation, education, health, and culture, as well as antiquities and tourism. Joint cooperation in the military and security fields was also discussed.

The French Prime Minister welcomed President El-Sisi in Paris, expressing France's appreciation of Egypt at the official and popular levels and its pride in the historical ties binding the two friendly countries. France’s PM also asserted the French government's keenness to increase its investments in Egypt to support its efforts in all developmental areas, particularly in light of the achievements made by Egypt, both internally and externally, under the leadership of the President in record time. Thus, the importance of supporting those fruitful efforts to cement the role Egypt plays as a stabilizing factor for the Mediterranean and Middle East regions, is strongly emphasized.

For his part, the President expressed appreciation for the warm welcome he received in France, praising the extended and Egyptian-French friendship and the significant advance in relations accomplished at various levels during the recent period.

The President expressed Egypt's aspiration to deepen and promote robust relations, particularly at the economic and trade levels, by increasing the volume of French investments in Egypt, especially as France is one of Egypt's most important partners within the European continent and there is a great opportunity for its presence in the promising Egyptian market, thus France would benefit from the new infrastructure and the improved business climate, which was reflected in the steady performance of the Egyptian economy during the current year amid the coronavirus crisis. In this respect, Egypt has scored the highest growth rate in the Middle East and Africa and the second highest growth rate in the world, which increases confidence in the investment climate in Egypt.

The Spokesman added that the meeting discussed a number of regional and international issues of common interest, especially the Libyan and Syrian crises, as well as the Palestinian cause. Both sides agreed on the importance of supporting countries in crisis and strengthening their national institutions, in order to end the suffering of their people, help them recover and fill the vacuum that allowed terrorist groups to expand and spread. ‎