A STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP OF FRANCE
WITH EGYPT
DESPITE THE AUTHORIZED DRIFT OF ALISIS ? |
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| Emmanuel Macron flew to Egypt on Sunday and will stay there until Tuesday. Accompanied by a delegation of personalities and several ministers, including Jean-Yves Le Drian, the president makes a trip "to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries," says the Elysee. With his counterpart Marshal Al-Sissi, he should talk about contracts and security, but also human rights.
On the first day, President Macron began his visit Sunday with a stopover at Abu Simbel Temple, one of the country's iconic archaeological sites. Beyond a French tradition of Egyptology that goes back to Champollion, France hopes today to be entrusted with new missions of excavations or enhancement of ancient sites, such as that of Saqqara, south of Cairo. It also seeks to participate in the future Grand Egyptian Museum of Guizeh and the renovation of the famous archaeological museum located in the center of Cairo since the nineteenth century. On the second day of his visit to Egypt on Monday, Emmanuel Macron is greeted in Cairo at the presidential palace by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fatah al-Sisi for a one-to-one interview. Economic contracts The program: the signing of thirty agreements and commercial contracts, for "a few hundred million euros", according to the French Presidency. About fifty French patrons are part of the trip. Contracts cover sectors as varied as transport, renewable energies, health or agrifood Strategic partnership. The two presidents will also talk about defense and security with the fight against terrorism. Among the emblematic contracts is that of Rafale fighter planes of which 2 4 copies were delivered to Egypt. has become the third largest arms sales customer for France. Negotiations are underway for the acquisition of 12 others, but no contract should be announced during this trip, they say behind the scenes. Paris supports Egypt as a strategic partner, seeing the most populous country in the Arab world as a center of stability in the Middle East, despite strong criticism from NGOs about the Egyptian authorities' failure to respect human rights. Emmanuel Macron, despite the authoritarian drift of the Egyptian president, does not want to break any form of cooperation that would lead Egypt to Russia or other powers, on the contrary. Human rights Several NGOs, including Amnesty and Human Rights Watch (HRW), have therefore stepped up to "suspend the suspension of any French sale of weapons that could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international law". They called on Monday Emmanuel Macron to "deliver a strong speech on the catastrophic situation of human rights" in Egypt, "demanding the release of all prisoners unjustly detained". In October 2017 Emmanuel Macron had received the Egyptian president in Paris, despite the criticism of NGOs. At that time the French president had refused to "give lessons" to his counterpart on the issue of human rights. However, Sunday evening in an interview with the French press in Cairo, President Macron said he would speak "more openly" of this sensitive issue during his visit. According to the French president, "things have gotten worse since October 2017" As a result, he promised to express himself "in a more determined manner, including openly (...) because I think it is the interest of President Sissi and Egyptian stability". A visit that aims to diversify the French commercial offer, which remains "too low" according to Emmanuel Macron, France being only the 11th partner of Egypt, third market in Africa and to "tighten the links" between two countries. |
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| Joanne Courbet for DayNewsWorld | |
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