President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi received on Tuesday evening a phone call from the German chancellor Angela Merkel in which she expressed Germany’s deep condolences for the families of the victims of the recent church attack that took place in Cairo.
The German chancellor asserted during the phone call that Germany is supporting Egypt in its war against terrorism. Both Merkel and Al-Sisi discussed ways to enhance bilateral relations between Egypt and Germany.
On Monday, the Egyptian Armed Forces received the first Type-209/1400 submarine from Germany, according to a statement issued from the official army spokesperson Mohamed Samir on Facebook.
According to the army’s statement, the submarine is called S41. It was manufactured by the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems Company in the northern German coastal city of Kiel.
The German-manufactured submarine was delivered to Egypt during a ceremony in the city of Kiel where the commander of the Egyptian Navy Lieutenant General Osama Mounir hoisted the Egyptian flag on the submarine signaling the start of its service in the Egyptian armed forces.
Mounir noted in a speech he delivered at the inauguration, that the new submarine is a “great technological addition” to Egypt’s navy and will further its capability to bolster Egyptian national security.
In 2012, Germany agreed to provide Egypt with four state-of-the-art military submarines. Germany completed the first submarine on 10 December 2015, according to the state-owned MENA news agency.
The cost of the first two ships was around €900 million, while the other two submarine contracts are estimated at well over €500 million, according to Germany’s Deutsche-Presse Agentur (DPA) news agency.
Egypt has finalised several arms deals with different countries, despite the country’s precarious financial situation that has plagued the government since the 25 January Revolution.
According to data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), an international think-tank based in Sweden, the value of arms transfers to Egypt in 2015 reached $1.475bn, compared to $686m in 2010 and $368m in 2014.
