President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi began a two-day visit to France to meet his French counterpart Francois Hollande on Wednesday. During his visit as part of a four-day EU tour, the two will discuss security issues, ways to fight terrorism, the Libyan and Syrian crisis and ways to strengthen ties between the two countries. Al-Sisi is set to meet several top French officials, including the speakers of both houses of parliament and French Ministers of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius and of Defence Jean-Yves Le Drian. The tour started with Al-Sisi's visit to Italy to meet his Italian counterpart Giorgio Napolitano on Monday to discuss ways to reinforce Egyptian-Italian ties. The pair addressed regional and international issues, including combating terrorism and the situation in Libya and Syria. After his visit to Italy, Al-Sisi visited the Vatican to meet with Pope Francis and Secretary of State Pietro Parolin. According to a Vatican statement, the Pope expressed the Vatican's support for Egypt hoping that "within the framework of guarantees enshrined by the new Constitution in terms of the safeguard of human rights and religious freedom, the peaceful coexistence among all components of society may be strengthened and the path to inter-religious dialogue may continue to be pursued".
