Shoukry meets French Defense Minister in Munich

CAIRO – 17 February 2018: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met on Friday with the Minister of French Armed Forces, Florence Barley, to discuss boosting cooperation between the two countries in various fields, the ministry’s spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

The meeting came on the sidelines of Shoukry’s participation in the 54th Munich Security Conference (MSC) in Germany's capital Munich.

Abu Zeid said that Barley asserted her country’s support to Egypt in its war against terrorism and asked Shoukry about the ongoing comprehensive military operation “Sinai 2018”, where he informed the French minister about the objectives and locations of the operation. He stressed that Egypt is determined to root out terrorism from its territory after all what it suffered over the past years, pointing out that the elimination of terrorism would enhance the stability of both the Arab region and European countries.

Abu Zeid added that the two sides also discussed the latest developments in Libya and efforts exerted to resolve the Libyan crisis.

He added that Shoukry showed Egypt's interest in strengthening cooperation with the G5 Sahel, especially its affiliated anti-terrorism force. The G5 Sahel was established in 2014 as an inter-governmental partnership among Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger to foster economic cooperation and security in the Sahelian region.

Shoukry expressed the Egyptian government’s welcome for the proposed visit of President Emmanuel Macron to Egypt, which is expected to be a qualitative leap in bilateral relations in various fields, especially defense and security affairs and combating terrorism.