CAIRO, Apr 18 (Aswat Masriya) - French President Francois Hollande said Monday that Egypt faces three "grave" challenges obstructing its efforts towards development, namely security, demographic and geographic challenges.  

Hollande's statements came during the Egyptian-French Business forum held in Cairo in the attendance of the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The forum was also attended by representatives of 60 French companies, according to Egypt's State Information Service (SIS).

The French president arrived in Cairo on Sunday as part of a Middle East tour including Jordan and Lebanon. 

After a joint press conference on Sunday, Egypt and France signed 30 agreements and accords in various fields.

"France chose to accompany Egypt in its security and economic development goals," Hollande said on Monday, "so we can situate bilateral relations within long-term projects."

The French president elaborated that Egypt faces a security challenge in a region suffering from "tragedies, disasters, deprivation and terrorism."

Amid the current security challenges, there will not be economic development on the medium or long-term, Hollande added.

"Middle East countries are hit by terrorism and we need to work together to address crises and resolve conflicts," Hollande stated.

As for the demographic challenge, Hollande emphasized that the current population growth represents a burden in the context of an annual growth rate of two million without the proper infrastructure and preparations to meet this increase.

The third and final challenge, according to Hollande, is the geographic one as Egypt cannot change its geography "no matter the political will" present. He asserted that the expansion of the Suez Canal is a "big opportunity" but it has to be accompanied by spreading out the Egyptian population on the territory.

France is the sixth largest foreign investor in Egypt, and it can do better than that, Hollande stated.

On his side, the Egyptian president stressed that France is one of the most important trade partners with Egypt as the volume of trade between the two nations reached EUR 2.58 billion.

Sisi said that Egypt is seeking to increase its non-oil exports to France.

On Sunday, Hollande stressed the strength of Egyptian-French relations and said that France aims to strengthen its economic ties with Egypt.