The meeting, held in the French port city of  Brest on the sideline of the One Ocean Summit, comes in light of the recent development in the relations between the two countries, especially at the economic, commercial, military and security levels, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidential Spokeman Bassam Rady.

El-Sisi expressed to Macron Egypt's keenness to strengthen cooperation with France in various fields, especially in terms of transferring French expertise and technology in all development fields to Egypt.

The Egyptian president also asserted to his French counterpart that Egypt seeks to increase coordination and consultation with France as the current chair of the European Union on the political, security, military and economic levels in a way that helps maintain security and stability in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa.

Macron, for his part, expressed his country's pride in what he described as "the strong and distinguished" relations with Egypt, which he said gained more momentum during the recent multiple visits of El-Sisi to France.

The French president stressed his country's commitment to continue to bolster the frameworks of cooperation with Egypt in various fields.

He also voiced support to the Egyptian president's efforts to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development and combat terrorism and extremist ideology in the region.

Libya developments

The meeting also tackled the latest developments concerning a host of regional issues of common interest, including Libya, the statement added.

El-Sisi and Macron agreed on exerting concerted efforts to help Libya restore security and stability, particularly through expelling mercenaries and foreign forces, and eliminating terrorism.

Macron lauded Egyptian efforts to preserve Libyan national institutions and promote a political settlement to the crisis, adding that these efforts are appreciated by the international community, Rady added.

On Thursday, Libya's House of Representatives, based in Libya's east, approved Fathi Bashagha to head the Libyan government, in a challenge to interim premier Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah's administration, who vowed to only give up power to an elected government.

UN COP27

The two leaders also reviewed means of cooperation and coordination during the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), which is slated to take place in November 2022 in the Egyptian Red Sea city of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Macron expressed his well wishes for Egypt to succced in hosting the COP27, noting that "Cairo pays great attention to protect the marine environment."

Earlier today, El-Sisi was welcomed by Macron ahead of attending the One Ocean Summit, which aimed to mobilise the world to take action to save the planet's oceans.

In his speech to the high level segment session at the Brest summit, the Egyptian president called for intensifying international efforts to protect the seas and oceans from negative effects resulting from climate change.