https://arab.news/26p48
- The French presidency didn’t say whether Macron would be meeting with Trump
- Macron will hold discussions "with partners on the next steps of the peace plan's implementation", the Elysee said
PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Egypt on Monday to back the Gaza ceasefire deal brokered by the United States, and to discuss implementation of its next phases, the Elysee Palace said.
The French presidency did not say whether Macron would be meeting with US President Donald Trump, who may also go to Egypt and who brokered the deal agreed by Israel and Hamas.
Macron will go to Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt's Red Sea resort town which hosted the indirect talks that resulted in the Gaza deal.
There, he will hold discussions "with partners on the next steps of the peace plan's implementation", the Elysee said.
It added that Macron's trip was a continuation of a Franco-Saudi initiative to foster peace and security in the Middle East, based on "the two-state solution" of Israeli and Palestinian states coexisting.
France last month recognised a Palestinian state as part of its drive towards that goal, infuriating Israel and earning criticism from the United States.
Macron's trip comes as France is mired in political crisis.
The president has just reappointed as prime minister Sebastien Lecornu, an ally who resigned from the post on Monday, and tasked him with forming a government to push through an austerity budget rejected by much of the French parliament.