French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, along with a number of other ministers, are expected to arrive in Egypt on Saturday to discuss economic projects and sign deals with Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, the media office to the French embassy told Ahram Online. French ministers of defense, foreign affairs, international development, and the secretary of state for transport will be accompanying the prime minister on his 24-hour visit. Valls will be on a visit to the Middle East for five days starting 9 October. He is expected to also visit Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The prime minister will hold talks with his Egyptian counterpart where the two are expected to sign a number of deals of cooperation, according to the French embassy. The two ministers will also hold a press conference late Saturday in Cairo following the talks and the signing of the deals. The French presidency said in a statement Wednesday that Egypt agreed in late September to buy two Mistral warships that France had built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis. No deals have yet been reached. The French PM is also expected to meet with his Saudi Arabian and Jordanian counterparts. The French embassy said on its official website that "this movement will strengthen economic ties and will allow the PM to support the presence of French companies in the Middle East." The embassy also announced that Valls will inaugurate the new site of the French school of Cairo. Paris and Cairo have enjoyed close economic ties in the past but the turmoil that followed the overthrow of Mubarak in 2011 left Western governments wary of signing deals, especially ones pertaining to defence. In February, Egypt announced a 5.2 billion euro deal to buy 24 French Rafale jet fighters. That same month Egypt signed a contract with the French company VINCI Bouygues Travaux Public to complete the construction of the fourth phase of Cairo's third metro line. French officials from the country's development agency, who attended Egypt's economic development conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in March, announced that the agency will provide a 40 million euro sovereign loan to finance a power plant in Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt. Source: Ahram Online
