Russia to provide ‘all-round assistance’ to Egypt to fight terrorism

Russian President Vladimir Putin is going to meet Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi Wednesday to discuss measures of fighting international terrorism. The Kremlin press service said Russia supports Egypt’s “vigorous efforts” against terrorism, and is willing to provide “all-round assistance” to strengthen its armed forces and law enforcement.

Sisi will also visit Russia to talk about the Middle East settlement and the situation in Northern Africa. “The Joint Russian-Egyptian Commission for Trade, Economic and Scientific-Technological Cooperation is a vital mechanism to promote the Russian-Egyptian interaction,” the Kremlin press service reportedly said. “Its next meeting is to take place late this year.”

Russia helps Cairo train experts for Egypt’s economy. Around 10,000 Egyptian experts graduated from Soviet and Russian institutions of high learning over the years. Nearly 200 Egyptians are studying in Russia at present, Tass news agency reported.

In June, five Egyptian vessels and four Russian warships sailed out of Alexandria, Egypt, to conduct air and naval search and rescue drills as well as defence drills as a part of a weeklong joint military exercises between the two nations. The Friendship Bridge 2015 started on June 6 and continued until June 14.

Meanwhile, Egypt has shown stable growth in its agricultural exports to Russia. One of the major areas of cooperation between the two countries is energy, which includes oil and gas sector. Russian oil company LUKOIL has several projects near the Egyptian city of Hurghada. It extracts around 0.5 million tonnes of oil every year.

Egypt’s General Petroleum Corporation and Russia’s Rosneft have agreed on the annual delivery of petroleum products and liquefied natural gas to Egypt. Rosneft is going to provide training for Egyptian oil and gas industry professionals as well.

Source: International Business Times