Egypt’s president arrives in Russia on official visit for talks with Putin in Sochi

SOCHI, August 12 (Itar-Tass) - President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, of Egypt, has arrived in Russia on his first official visit. His plane landed at the seaside airport of the southern resort of Sochi Tuesday morning. At the boarding ramp Al-Sisi was welcomed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. On the airfield Al-Sisi shook hands with members of the Russian delegation. A military band played the anthems of the two countries. The Egyptian leader reviewed a guard of honour. Al-Sisi was shown several pieces of Russia’s newest military hardware, including the armoured vehicle Tigr, the latest model of an armoured personnel carrier, a main battle tank and other vehicles. After the welcome ceremony Al-Sisi left for the mountain cluster, where he will join Russian President Vladimir Putin for a tour of Olympic facilities. Later in the day the two men will hold talks at the Russian presidential residence Bocharov Ruchei. The Kremlin’s press-service has said Putin and Al-Sisi will focus on trading and economic relations, and regional and international affairs. The Kremlin said “the approaches of the two countries to settling crises in the Middle East are largely similar.” Both countries are certain about the need for ending violence in Gaza, settling the situations in Libya, Syria and Iraq, and presenting a common front to international terrorism. “Further coordination by the two countries’ efforts in the international scene will be on the agenda,” the Kremlin’s press-service said. “The two leaders may touch upon ways of enhancing humanitarian ties as well.” High on the agenda is a program for cooperation in culture, education and science between the governments of Russia and Egypt and also such a major sphere as tourism. Russia-Egypt bilateral trade last year reached an impressive three billion dollars. In the first half of this year it doubled (to 2.5 billion dollars against 1.2 billion in the same period last year). Egypt is a major market for Russian wheat. It accounts for 25-30 percent of Russia’s export of this commodity. About 40 percent of cereals consumed in Egypt is Russia-grown. Energy, automobile production and transport are other promising areas of bilateral economic cooperation. Bilateral cooperation is proceeding well in other formats, too, such as the inter-governmental commission for trading, economic and scientific-technological cooperation. It has been agreed to resume bilateral consultations, suspended in 2011, on a zone of free trade zone of Egypt and the Customs Union member-countries (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan). Learn more on itar-tass.com