Egypt, France sign €950mn warships deal

French President Francois Hollande announced last month that Egypt had agreed to buy two Mistral warships which his country built for Russian Federation before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis.

“We all have a common enemy – Daesh”, he said in June, referring to the Islamic State group.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi with the French and Egyptian Prime Ministers and Ministers of Defence at the deal-signing ceremony.

Mistral Class ships can carry and deploy up to 16 helicopters, including attack choppers in addition to a big number of troops, a few 13 tanks and armored vehicles.

In February of this year, Egypt bought 22 Rafael fighter jets from France, becoming the first foreign purchaser of the French warplane.

Egypt emerged as France’s replacement customer for the Mistrals in September 2015, after Paris and Moscow had formally terminated a 2011 deal on the construction and delivery of the two ships.

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.

The sale comes as Valls is visiting Arab countries to discuss the situation in Syria and Iraq and tensions between Israel and Palestine.