Hot Egyptian - French Summit, Op-ed

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is visiting the French capital, Paris, ten months after the visit of French President Macron to Egypt. These exchanged visits reflect the depth of historical relations and the importance of consultation and coordination between the two countries. President Sisi’s visit comes amid cold weather, low clouds, a temperature lower than 7 degrees Celsius, and in light of a high precautionary atmosphere, due to the unprecedented rise in Coronavirus cases in Paris and Europe.

This is President Sisi's third visit to Paris since 2014. Following his last visit, we witnessed clear French positions in the files of the Mediterranean waters, regarding the differences among Cyprus, Greece and Turkey, and in the Libyan file as Paris supports the Egyptian policies. despite the wrong or misunderstood translation of Macron's statements about republishing the offensive cartoons, However, it was an opportunity to clarify the situation between the two parties.

The expected summit between the two leaders is of particular importance that time, since it comes only two days after concluding the activities of the Brussels summit, which brought together the heads of state and government of the European Union. The summit addressed the situation in the eastern Mediterranean and relations with Turkey and China, as well as the repercussions of the political situation and the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The agenda of the severe European warning to Turkey, Erdogan's policies, and his attempts to poison the situation in the eastern Mediterranean is still on the table, in addition to warning him that all options are available to defend the interests of eastern Mediterranean members if Ankara does not take a "constructive" approach to resolving conflicts in the region. The summit blamed Turkey for the tension and military escalation, and expressed solidarity with the interests and sovereignty of Greece and Cyprus.

The summit firm statements against Ankara's policies and support for Greece and Cyprus came days after President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi described the tripartite cooperation between Egypt and Greece and Cyprus as a balanced example of good neighborliness according to international norms for the security and stability of the Eastern Mediterranean region.

Paris and the European summit states know well that Egypt has close relations with the two European countries as the three countries hold regular summits within the framework of their energy cooperation in the Mediterranean to confront Turkey's ambitions.

President Sisi and his French Counterpart Macron are expected to discuss intensification of consultations on regional issues and files of common interest whether at the bilateral level or through the mechanism of cooperation among countries concerned with the security of the Mediterranean, in the framework of respect, good neighborliness and mutual interests of the security and stability of the Eastern Mediterranean, far from the tensions and problems caused by Ankara's ambitions!

The permanent consultation between Cairo and Paris reflects the extent of confidence in Egypt's stances and its sincere efforts in confronting terrorism and its supporters inside Egypt, in the region and in Libya.

The two president will also tackle the repercussions of the crisis sparked by the statements of the French President after republishing the offensive cartoons and the decisive statements of President Sisi in this regard, which were followed by the visit of the French Foreign Minister to Cairo and his meeting with the President and the Grand Imam, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, as the visit of the French official  warned against exploiting these cartoons to poison the atmosphere of understanding between France And the Islamic world.

They will also address coordination of efforts to confront the Coronavirus, reaching vaccines against the pandemic and making use of the scientific experience of the two countries and their medical efforts to confront the global pandemic.

I expect that the important files scheduled to be addressed will also include the encouragement of investments, persification of armament programs, cooperation between the two countries in security and counter-terrorism efforts, support for the French president's efforts in the field of human rights and support for his efforts to enhance stability in the region, especially Lebanon and Libya.

In my opinion, this summit is taking place at that time to address hot files, in addition to the state of confidence that the international community attaches to president Sisi , thanks to his wisdom in dealing with various issues.