CAIRO, Mar. 8 (Aswat Masriya) - The French Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Marc Ayrault is due to visit Egypt on Wednesday to discuss "peace process affairs" with his counterparts in an Arab League committee, the French embassy in Cairo said.

The embassy added in its statement that Ayrault will discuss the French initiative to re-launch the Palestinian-Israeli peace process through holding an international conference at the Arab League.

During the two-day visit, the minister will also meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Prime Minister Sameh Shoukry to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries, as well as other regional affairs.

Ayrault plans to meet with civil society representatives as well.

Since he was elected president in 2014, Sisi has sought to secure his legitimacy among international actors, paying visits to a number of capitals and signing a several cooperation deals. He visited Paris in November 2014 where me met with French President François Hollande.

Prior to becoming president, Sisi led a military ouster of then-President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood following mass protests against his rule. 

In February 2015, Egypt sealed a deal worth 5.2 billion euros with France in Cairo which would later see the former buying two dozen fighter jets and a multi-mission frigate. 

More recently, in January, Sisi issued a presidential decree approving a deal enabling Egypt to receive EUR 40 million line of credit from Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) for the establishment of a power plant.