By Arooj Shakeel, The Orient News Research Section

Under the secular rule of the former army general, Al-Sisi, Egypt and France have enjoyed an increasingly close relationship with common interests in the Middle East and so on. On 7 December 2020, French President Emmanuel Macron received Egyptian leader Al-Sisi in Paris for the France Strategic Partnership with the Egypt. In reaction to this, activists opposed the Egyptian leader’s visit and 20 human rights groups condemned the alliance in compliance with the arrest of the human rights activists on the accusation of joining a terror group. President Macron stated that the disagreements over the human rights issue will not prevent France from reaching economic and defense deals with Egypt. The meeting concerned the dialogue on countering the terrorism, conflict in Libya and other regional issues. 

From the past 3 - 4 centuries, France and Egypt have been involved in negotiations with each other. The most important events date back from the 17^th century. Eighteenth century saw British military and political interest in Egypt, especially due to British presence in India which resulted in slipping away from the hands of France. Despite, the direct sea routes around the Cape of Good Hope, Egypt still provided the quickest way of maintaining communications between Britain and India. It required a brief overland journey, but it was still substantially quicker than to go around Africa. It was the strategic foresight of Napoleon Bonaparte that he first was the first to point out the importance of Egypt to Britain. Thus, one of the most important expeditions sailed under the leadership of Napoleon from Toulon in May 1798. It was purposefully associated with the war against the Britain.

Napoleon hoped that the occupation of Egypt would benefit in winning over the English as it would cause destruction to the British trade, thus harming the economy and threatening India with the thought that the assets obtained would be useful in the future peace talks. With the landing of French in Egypt they impoverished country and set commission of the scholars and scientists who investigated every aspect of life in ancient and contemporary Egypt. Soon French realized that the land has agriculture, commercial and strategic potential with regard of the Anglo-French rivalry.  Despite potential benefits from the land of Egypt, the people of Cairo rioted against the French for they were occupiers.

Today, French authorities see Egypt as a key country in efforts to stabilize the troubled region, and President Macron has warned that in the absence of Western support, Egypt could turn to the West's authoritarian rivals China and Russia. Entering 2020, Egypt was one of the fastest-growing emerging markets, however, the pandemic has led to economic failure but Egypt’s ties with the other countries will redress the situation. The growing French-Egyptian strategic relations are likely to challenge presence of other players in Egypt and neighbourhood.