Egypt

France and Egypt

Date of update: March 27th 2026 Information still valid as of today's date

Visits

2019

24-26 August 2019: Visit to France by President Sisi, for the G7 Summit
14 June 2019: visit to France by Mr Tarek El Molla, Egyptian Minister of Oil and Mineral Ressources
9 April 2019: visit to France by Ms Hala Zaid, Egyptian Minister of Health
28-29 January 2019 – Visit to Egypt by the French President

2018

28 June 2018 – Visit to Egypt by Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
29 April 2018 - Visit to Egypt by Mr Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs
5 April 2018 - Visit to France by Inès Abdeldaiem, Minister of Culture

2017

23 - 25 October 2017 - Official visit by President Sisi to France. Meetings with the President of the French Republic, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the Minister for the Armed Forces, and the Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate.
6 October 2017 - Visit to France by Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs
26 July 2017 - Visit to France by Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs
8 June 2017 - Visit to Egypt by Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs

2016

25-28 May 2016 - Visit to Egypt by Jean-Marie Le Guen, Minister of State for Development and Francophonie
20 December 2016 - Visit to Cairo by Harlem Désir, Minister of State for European Affairs (for the fourth ministerial meeting of the European Union and Arab League).
29 September 2016 - Visit by Matthias Fekl, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, the Promotion of Tourism and French Nationals Abroad
17-19 April 2016 - State visit by President of the French Republic François Hollande to Egypt
9-10 March 2016 - Visit by Jean-Marc Ayrault, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, to Cairo (meetings with President Sisi and Mr Ayrault’s counterpart, Sameh Shoukry)

2015

10-11 October 2015 – Visit to Cairo by Prime Minister Manuel Valls.
6 August 2015 – Visit to Ismailia by the President of the French Republic for the inauguration of the expansion of the Suez Canal
24-26 July 2015 – Visit to Egypt by the Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
20-21 June 2015 – Visit to Egypt by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius (regional tour to discuss possibilities of restarting the Middle East Peace Process).
12-13 May 2015 – Visit to France by the Egyptian Prime Minister, Ibrahim Mahlab (meetings with the French President, Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Minister of Defence and representatives of the French Senate and National Assembly).
13-14 March 2015 - Visit to Sharm El-Sheikh by the Minister of Finance and Public Accounts (Egypt Economic Development Conference “Egypt The Future”).
4-5 March 2015 - Visit to Cairo by the Minister of State for Development and Francophonie, Annick Girardin. Bilateral visit and participation in the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN).
11 January 2015 – Visit to France by the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry, to take part in the republican march to commemorate the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack.

2014

25-27 November 2014 – Official visit to France by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (meetings with the French President; the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius; the Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian; and the Presidents of the National Assembly and the Senate).
30-31 October 2014 – Visit to France by the Egyptian Minister of Finance, Hany Kadry Damian (meeting with his counterpart, Michel Sapin).
12 October 2014 – Visit to Cairo by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius (co-chairing the Cairo International Conference on Palestine organized at the initiative of Egypt and Norway).
20 September 2014 – Visit to Cairo by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Mr Laurent Fabius (participation in the Cairo Conference on Palestine).
23 September 2014 – Meeting in New York between the French President and the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
15 September 2014 – Visit to Egypt by the Minister of Defence (meeting with President Sisi and the Egyptian Minister of Defence).
2 September 2014 – Visit to France by the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry (meetings with the French President and the Minister of Foreign Affairs).
18-19 July 2014 - Visit to Egypt by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Laurent Fabius (in the context of the crisis in Gaza).

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Cooperation with Egypt is driven in particular by the Institut Français (French Institute) in Egypt, which has three sites (Cairo, Alexandria and Heliopolis).
In the field of research, the French presence is ensured in particular by the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) and the Centre for Social, Judicial and Economic Documentation and Study (CEDEJ), focusing on the disciplines of humanities and social sciences and carrying out research into three themes (governance and public policies, development-urban studies-mobility, and digital humanities).

France’s leading position in the field of archaeology in Egypt is ensured by the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), the French-Egyptian Centre for the Study of the Temples of Karnak (CFEETK), the Centre d’Etudes Alexandrines (CEAlex), and several archaeological missions.

The Francophone tradition has left its mark on the Egyptian elites. Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali was the first Secretary-General of the International Organisation of La Francophonie from 1998 to 2002. In addition to the two directly-managed schools and accredited establishments, bilingual schools are the cornerstone of the French-speaking community and educate students who go on to study French-language courses in higher education and at the French University in Egypt (UFE), which aim to offer outstanding education.

Finally, in the technical field, France implements a wide-ranging cooperation policy in Egypt in many sectors, in particular the administration and the judiciary. France thus participates each year in a cooperation scheme which allows Egyptian senior officials and judges to be trained at the National School of Public Administration (ENA) and the National School for the Judiciary (ENM). Plans to create an Egyptian National School of Public Administration (ENA) are under way.

For more information, visit the following websites: