CAIRO, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks on Tuesday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, agreeing to jointly seek political settlement of the crises in Libya and Syria.
The two discussed the bilateral ties as well as regional challenges of mutual concern, including the issues of war-torn Libya and Syria, Egypt's presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.
"The two sides agreed to combine joint efforts to reach a settlement in Libya in a way that contributes to obliterating terrorism, preserving the country's resources and institutions, and limiting foreign interventions," Rady said.
On Syria, Sisi reaffirmed Egypt's position that it supports a political settlement in Syria "to preserve the entity and unity of the Syrian state and the integrity of its territories," Rady added.
Sisi and Le Drian agreed on the necessity of holding constant coordination and consultation between Egypt and France regarding the ongoing challenges in the Middle East region.
The talks also highlighted the means of enhancing partnership between the two countries, particularly in the fields of economy, trade, investment and development.
"The French foreign minister noted his country's follow-up of the obvious success of the economic reform measures in Egypt, as well as and the huge amount of mega development projects nationwide," Rady said.
Egypt started in late 2016 a three-year austerity-based economic reform program encouraged by a 12-billion-U.S. dollar loan from the International Monetary Fund, which hailed the country's implementation of the program as successful.
Meanwhile, the country has been working on various national development and infrastructure projects over the past few years, including the construction of a new administrative capital and several power plants, as well as upgrading the country's road network.
Le Drian said that Egypt's development projects provide promising opportunities for increasing French investments in Egypt, especially in the fields of energy and transport.
