President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron recently signed a joint declaration to elevate the level of relations between the two countries to a "strategic partnership," encompassing various fields and sectors.

This declaration underscores the depth of bilateral relations, with France being one of the closest European countries to Egypt in terms of coordinating positions on regional issues, including the Palestinian cause, Libya, Sudan, and Red Sea security. Additionally, there is extensive strategic cooperation across multiple domains, particularly in the military sector, joint manufacturing, and technology transfer.

• France has provided Egypt with some of its most advanced defense systems, notably 54 fighter jets of the "Rafale" type (24 contracted in 2015, and an additional 30 in a second deal in 2021), as well as two helicopter carriers and amphibious assault ships of the "Mistral" class, a "FREMM" frigate, four "Gowind" corvettes, an advanced military and civilian communications satellite "Tiba-1," and radar and early warning systems for air defense forces.

Military cooperation also included equipping the Egyptian armed forces with advanced air and naval munitions that had been prohibited for Egypt to possess for decades. These include the "Storm Shadow" cruise missiles with a range of up to 300 km, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missiles (BVR), "AASM Hammer" smart bombs, "Exocet" anti-ship and coastal target missiles, and surface-to-air missile systems such as "MICA NG," "MICA," and "Aster 15/30," which have been integrated into the Egyptian naval units.

The cooperation is not limited to importing weapons systems but also includes research and development, technology transfer, and joint production in the field of defense industries. One of the most prominent examples is the partnership in developing and manufacturing optical and electronic systems through the "Arab International Optical Company," with 49% owned by the French company "Thales" and 51% by the National Service Projects Organization affiliated with the armed forces.

Recently, a new company named "Thales & Benha for Electronic Industries" was established, tasked with locally manufacturing military communication equipment, signaling equipment, and satellite communication systems. Furthermore, collaboration has been initiated between Egypt’s Ministry of Military Production and Thales to develop and produce air defense systems.

Additionally, the technology for manufacturing the French "Gowind" corvettes was transferred for local production in Egypt, forming the nucleus for reviving the Alexandria Shipyard and elevating it to a new phase aimed at localizing naval defense industries. The company has already successfully manufactured three corvettes of this type locally in a short period.

Cooperation extends to the manufacturing of components for aircraft from the French company "Dassault" within factories of the Arab Organization for Industrialization, including parts for "Falcon" luxury jets and certain components of "Rafale" fighters. As a result, Egypt has become one of the links in the global supply chains of Dassault, a leader in aircraft manufacturing.

In support of training and qualifying technical cadres to work in the aircraft manufacturing industry, Dassault and the Arab Organization for Industrialization launched an "Aircraft Manufacturing Technology School" in Helwan. Additionally, in collaboration with Thales, a "Thales Training Academy" was established to qualify engineers and technicians in advanced defense industries.

These are the key points of cooperation in the military sector alone. There are other areas of cooperation between the two countries, including technology, cybersecurity, localization of civilian industries, railway manufacturing, infrastructure projects, and sectors such as oil exploration.