File Photo: French President Francois Hollande greets President Sisi of Egypt on a previous meet in Paris (Photo: AFP)
Egypt and France were unable to reach an agreement on the sale of two French satellites, La Tribune reported on Wednesday.
The French economic newspaper reported in mid December that Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was working towards signing a deal with Thales Alenia Space (TAS) to purchase an observation satellite and a military telecommunications satellite.
The contract of the deal amounts to approximately one billion euros for the two satellites.
An agreement was not reached despite the desire of the Egyptian and French sides to reach a consensus before the Egyptian delegation commissioned to lead the talks, accompanied by minister of military production Brigadier-General Mohamed Saeed El-Assar, left the French capital on Tuesday.
A French official told La Tribune that the talks have been postponed.
A number of steps needed to be taken before the two countries reach an agreement, such as determining the orbital position of the satellites.
El-Assar travelled on17 December to Paris and was expected to return on the 22nd of the same month with an outline of the deal, according to earlier reports by La Tribune.
Meanwhile, La Tribune reports that Paris is offering four new warships as a new deal to the Egyptian President El-Sisi.
The offer would amount to approximately 580 million euros. If an agreement is reached with France, Egypt eventually would own 11 French warships, according to La Tribune.
Egypt previously purchased 24 Rafale fighter jets, a FREMM frigate, and two Mistrals from France, with the jet deal amounting to 5.2 billion euros.
Paris and Cairo have enjoyed close economic ties in the past, but the turmoil that followed the overthrow of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 left Western governments wary of signing deals, especially ones pertaining to defence.
In February, the same month the jet contract was signed, Egypt made a deal with the French company VINCI Bouygues Travaux Public to complete the construction of the fourth phase of Cairo’s third metro line.
In July, Egypt's navy celebrated the arrival of the new FREMM multipurpose frigate.
In October, Cairo and Paris signed the deal for two mistral warships.
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