Egypt, France naval forces hold joint drills in Mediterranean

Egyptian and French naval forces carried out joint maritime drills within Egypt's territorial waters of the Mediterranean Sea, Egyptian Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Sunday, reports Trend referring to Reuters.

"The training aims to boost the skills and capabilities of the participating forces and exchange expertise between the two sides in a way that contributes to raising the combat efficiency of the naval forces of both countries," said the Egyptian military statement.

It pointed out that the drills included activities, such as carrying out naval formations swiftly and accurately, artillery shooting to protect naval units crossing dangerous areas, and implementing scenarios to face different maritime threats.

Both navies of Egypt and France held similar drills in August while their air and naval forces carried out joint exercises earlier in July, all in the Mediterranean.

Military relations between Egypt and France have been growing in the past few years, during which Egypt purchased two French Mistral warships and received 11 French-made Rafale fighter jets out of 24 under contracts worth more than 6 billion U.S. dollars.