Sisi to meet Russia’s Putin: presidency

A meeting between President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is being prepared through diplomatic channels, an Egyptian presidency spokesman told Ahram’s Arabic website Friday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said on Friday that Moscow and Cairo are discussing a possible meeting at the highest level but that the date has not yet been agreed upon, Russia news agency Interfax reported.

The announcement comes a day after Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attended the opening of the new Suez Canal on Thursday in Ismailia and met with Sisi.

“Relations between Russia and Egypt have a long history. Primarily, these relations are based on mutual assistance and support,” Medvedev told Al-Ahram Daily in an interview published on Wednesday.

He also said that Russian companies are willing to work on economic projects in Egypt, possibly a Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal area.

Putin paid a two-day visit to Egypt in February to meet with Sisi, which was aimed at boosting Moscow’s relationship with Cairo.

On 9 May, Sisi attended celebrations in Moscow that marked the 70th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany at the end of World War Two in 1945.

Sisi also met with Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on 12 August 2014 as president and previously in Moscow in February of the same year as defense minister.

“Despite all the difficulties Egypt has faced these past years, our countries managed to keep our bilateral dialogue multidimensional,” Putin told Al-Ahram daily last February.

source:Ahram Online