France will not condition weapons sales to Egypt on human rights concerns, French President Emmanuel Macron said after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart in Paris on Monday.
Macron told a joint press conference with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that he had brought up the issue of human rights during their discussions and said he remained “a constant advocate of democratic and social openness”.
But he ruled out conditioning France’s deepening defence and trade ties with Egypt on the issue of rights.
“I won’t make our defence and economic cooperation conditional upon these [human rights] disagreements,” he said. “I think it is more effective to have a policy of dialogue than a policy of boycott, which would reduce the effectiveness of one of our partners in the fight against terrorism and for regional stability.”
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The French President, Emmanuel Macron, has said he won't make sales of weapons to Egypt conditional on its human rights record.
ReplyDeleteHe said he didn't want to weaken Egypt's capacity to fight terrorism in the Middle East.
Mr Macron was speaking after talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who's on a state visit to France.
Human rights groups issued a joint statement ahead of the visit saying Mr Macron shouldn't indulge the Egyptian president, whom they accuse of heavy-handed crackdowns on dissent.
Egypt accounts for over a quarter of France's military exports.