France allows new Rafale contract for Egypt to progress

Egypt’s purchase of 12 Dassault Rafale fighter jets from France looks to be going ahead, allaying Cairo’s fears that the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance (Bercy) would block the deal.
During a three-day visit made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Paris in October, French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that he wanted to continue to develop the relationship between Egypt and France. As a result, the Élysée — the president’s office — reportedly asked Bercy to stop blocking negotiations for the sale of a dozen more fighters to Egypt.
Egypt has been modernizing its armed forces with support from France in recent years, beginning when Jean-Yves Le Drian was French minister of defense. Egypt spent around €7 billion with the French arms industry between 2014 and 2016, and currently has several contracts ongoing with French companies, including a military telecom satellite for its air force, in addition to the Rafale fighters, and four Gowind 2500 corvettes for its navy.
But Bercy was unwilling to allow Egypt to strike further deals with the French government, having underwritten the previous Rafale contract, which also included a FREMM multi-tasking frigate valued at more than 5.2 billion euros.
A letter of guarantee from the ministry to the Compagnie Française d’Assurance pour le Commerce (COFACE) financed the 2015 deal. The letter of guarantee was sent to French investment bank Bpifrance in early 2017.