Egypt, France discuss bilateral cooperation in railway field

CAIRO– 16 October 2017: Transport Minister Hisham Arafat discussed with French Ambassador in Cairo Stephane Roumtier and President of the French Railways (SNCF) Guillaume Pepy promoting bilateral cooperation in the transport domain, particularly in the railways.

During their meeting at the Transport Ministry on Monday, the two sides discussed benefiting from the French hands-on expertise in boosting the Egyptian side's capabilities in the field of railroad operational safety.

They also discussed means of benefiting from the successful French experiment in the rail freight, the statement said, adding there are 20 rail freight operators in France in addition to the government company.

During the meeting, Arafat said that the Transport Ministry has a clear-cut strategy in the field of railways that depends on expanding rail freight transport, which is one of the most important ways to increase revenues of the Egyptian National Railways (ENR).

The ministry is working on transporting about 25 million tons of goods annually through railways by 2022, the minister stressed.

SNCF is No. 1 transport and logistics operator in France.