Earlier it was reported, that a delegation of high-ranking Egyptian officials is currently in Paris to negotiate the purchase of two Mistral-class helicopter carriers originally built for Russia.
According to France’s La Tribune daily, the Egyptian military is also considering the purchase of two Gowind-class corvettes from France under a 2014 contract, the newspaper cited a confidential source as saying.
Egypt is high on the list of countries that Paris regards as potential buyers of its two Mistral warships, others being Canada, India and Singapore, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said earlier.
La Tribune indicated, however, that Cairo was unhappy with the high price tag on the two helicopter carriers. Russia’s contract for their construction and delivery stood at 1.2 billion euro (over $1.3 billion).
Moscow and Paris officially terminated the Mistral deal in August 2015. France repaid Russia around 900 million euro ($1 billion) as compensation.
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