Egypt's defence minister Sedky Sobhy and his French counterpart Florence Parly inaugurated on Saturday a training centre for piloting Rafale fighter jets at an Egyptian airbase, the Egyptian Armed Forces announced in a statement. Sobhy and Parly held talks in Cairo at the Ministry of Defence headquarters, where they spoke about recent developments in the Middle East and cooperation between Egypt and France in defence and industry, as well as the exchange of expertise and training. The meeting was attended by Egyptian army chief-of-staff Mohamed Farid Hegazy. In 2015, Egypt signed a deal to acquire 24 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France, of which it has received 11. The tour by the two ministers at the airbase was attended by Egyptian air force commander Younes El-Masry as well as a number of Egyptian military officials and a French delegation accompanying Parly. Earlier on Saturday, Parly met with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, where they discussed boosting military cooperation. Egypt has made several purchases of French military hardware in recent years, the most recent of which was a Gowind 2500 Corvette naval vessel, which arrived in Alexandria in October. The vessel is one of four such models purchased by Egypt in a deal signed in 2014.
