SAFWAT el-Sherif, the Chairman of the Shura Council (the Upper House of the Parliament), held talks in Cairo on Thursday with Xavier Bertrand, the Chief of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which is the ruling political party in France. Their talks focused on bolstering parliamentary co-operation links between the two countries and ties between the UMPand Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), of which el-Sherif is the Secretary-General. The two top parliamentarians also discussed a host of regional and international issues of bilateral concern as well as the stalled Middle East peace process and international and Egyptian efforts to advance it. During the talks, el-Sherif explained to Bertrand the Shura Council's role in boosting the Egyptian political life. The talks have formed a solid base for parliamentary co-operation between the two countries and encourage further discussions between Egypt and France on international and Arab issues. Bertrand is a prominent French politician, who was minister of health for almost two years in Dominique de Villepin's government under president Jacques Chirac, then Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Solidarity in François Fillon's second government. He played a foremost role in Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007.