Forces from the Egyptian and French navies have conducted joint military drills off the Egyptian Mediterranean, the Egyptian army said in a statement on Wednesday.
French multi-mission frigate Auvergne, which was visiting the Egyptian Port of Alexandria, and Egyptian multi-purpose frigate Tahya Misr took part in the exercises.
The military training exercises are designed to boost cooperation between the Egyptian and French armed forces and "support naval security and stability efforts in the region," the army statement said.
The training exercises featured fast hostile launches, anti-submarine drills, transport training and aircraft landing on ships
Egypt has carried out military exercises with a number of countries over the past few years including the US, Russia, Greece, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan, and Bahrain. These programmes are meant to boost military-to-military relationships with armed forces of other countries and exchange experiences with other nations.
In November, the Armed Forces and observers from eight Arab countries met in Egypt for the Arab Shield-1 military exercise, which was the largest in the region.
In September 2018, Egypt hosted joint US-Egyptian military drills, Bright Star 2018, in the country's North Coast. Land, naval and air forces from Egypt, the US, Greece, Jordan, the UK, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Italy, and France as well as 16 observing countries took part in the drills, and approximately 800 US military service members participated in these exercises for the second year in a row.
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