French president arrives in Egypt after stopping in Lebanon

On the second leg of his regional tour, French President Francois Hollande arrived in Cairo this afternoon to discuss economic and security cooperation with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi before heading to Jordan next.

Hollande is conducting his trip with a delegation of business leaders, but along with economic cooperation, he is expected to discuss the war against the Islamic State and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the Egyptian counterpart.

Hollande and his business advisors will be making economic agreements including deals on funding transportation and renewable energy, AFP reported.

Human rights groups have been critical of France’s silence regarding Sisi’s bloody crackdown on protestors since he took power after overthrowing President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

Sisi became more unpopular after his crackdown spread to secular and leftwing dissidents who, after initially supporting Morsi’s overthrow, turned against the new president.

Hollande has been among Sisi’s strongest supporters in Europe, and France has already signed major arms contracts with Egypt since.

Hollande has been among Sisi’s strongest supporters in Europe despite his human rights record

Prior to Egypt, Hollande was in Lebanon yesterday where he announced 100 million euros ($113 million) in aid for Lebanon, as well immediate support to strengthen Lebanon's military capacity.

"French assistance will be increased to 100 million euros in the next three years," Hollande said at a joint press conference in the Lebanese capital with Prime Minister Tammam Salam.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that he would define with his Lebanese counterpart material resources necessary to strengthen Lebanon's ability to ensure its security.

The aid underlines France's support for the Lebanese army, after Saudi Arabia suspended a grant to finance $3 billion worth of French weaponry for Lebanon earlier this year.

Lebanon is home to more than a million Syrian refugees, the equivalent of a quarter the country's population of 4.5 million, and has been without a head of state since May 2014.

“France wants Lebanon’s problems to be solved in isolation from various other regional developments,” the French ambassador to Lebanon said earlier in the week according to Lebanese paper The Daily Star. “Lebanon is a priority for French foreign assistance,” he added.

In September 2015, Paris pledged 100 million euros to aid several countries housing Syrian refugees. It had allocated 40 million of that aid for Lebanon at the time.