France Signs Mistral Warships Deal With Egypt

French naval yard DCNS and the Egyptian military today signed the contract for the sale of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers.

Valls would have been to be obtained by President Abdel Fattah Elis thatSisi before being allowed to go towards a experiencing his Egyptian version Sharif Ismail. The West blames Moscow for the deadly conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Paris later returned 949.7 million euros that Russian Federation had already paid.

Saudi Arabia is expected to contribute a “significant” portion of the financing of the Mistral ships, which are set to arrive in Egypt in March of next year.

The Mistrals contract with Cairo comes after Egypt became the first foreign buyers of France’s Rafale fighter jet, agreeing to purchase 24 in February, in what Paris hailed as an “historic” accord.

Apart from arms deals, Egypt has also expressed interest in extending the Cairo metro, which was largely built by French companies, and in satellite communications deals.

Radio France worldwide said that the four-day tour to the region starts with a visit to Egypt, after that the prime minister will travel to Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Today, the French premier is due to meet Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Cairo’s Al Azhar University, the most prestigious institution in Sunni Islam.

Valls led a high-profile French delegation including the Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian and a number of French representatives in the trade and industrial fields.

He is to hold talks on Tuesday with King Salman, in a meeting during which the premier’s office said he will request “a gesture of pardon, humanity and clemency” for a young Shiite, Ali al-Nimr, sentenced to death for taking part in 2012 demonstrations.