BILATERAL talks between Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi were followed by negotiations in expanded format with the participation of the two nations’ delegations.
The Russian President’s official visit to Egypt resulted in the signing of a number of documents on bilateral cooperation in nuclear energy and investment, witnessed by the two leaders.
After the signing ceremony, Vladimir Putin and Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi made statements for the press.
Putin said: ‘My previous visit to Cairo was 10 years ago, and my colleagues and I are very happy to find ourselves once again in the hospitable land of Egypt.
‘Despite all the problems Egypt had to overcome in the past years, in our bilateral relations we have managed not only to avoid a slow-down, but even reached new heights in our cooperation.
‘Today we had very constructive and substantive negotiations with the President; we continued the meaningful exchange on the entire range of Russian-Egyptian relations and key regional and international matters, which we began in Sochi last year.
‘That was Mr President’s working visit. I hope he will accept my invitation and come to Moscow on an official visit so we could continue our contacts that, in my opinion, are developing positively.
‘Today we gave priority attention to matters of economic cooperation. I would like to note that in 2014 mutual trade turnover grew by more than 80 per cent. Among the key factors of this growth was the intensive development of our cooperation in agriculture.
‘The export of Russian wheat to Egypt doubled, as did the import to Russia of Egyptian agricultural produce.
‘Our cooperation in the power industry is developing rapidly. In 2014, Russia supplied to Egypt more than 1.4 million tons of its petroleum products. More than one sixth of all oil production in Egypt is arranged through Russia’s LUKOIL company.
‘We discussed this today, and Mr President already mentioned our possible cooperation in nuclear power. Here, if the final decision is made, we are talking not only about the construction of a nuclear power station.
‘We are discussing the creation of a new industry in Egypt – the nuclear power industry, which involves the construction of a nuclear power station, personnel training, promotion of science and a whole range of measures that will make it possible to create a new industry in Egypt.
‘We also see great prospects for our cooperation in space exploration and the joint use of the GLONASS Russian navigation satellite system.
‘We will focus our efforts on promoting an entire range of investment projects, primarily in such areas as transport infrastructure, engineering and chemical industry …
‘I briefed the President on the results of the Moscow meeting between representatives of the Syrian opposition and the Assad government.
‘We expect to see the next round of these talks that would eventually lead, as we hope, to a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Syria.
‘Russia intends to remain Egypt’s reliable partner and friend. I am certain that today’s visit will give a good impetus to the development of our relations.
‘Thank you for your attention.’
Egyptian President Abd-al-Fattah al-Sisi said that his country and Russia would be boosting military and economic cooperation as well as coordination of efforts in the fight against terrorism.
Russia will build a nuclear power station in Egypt, Al-Sisi said adding that they had agreed on cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy. He also said that Egypt and Russia would boost military cooperation. Al-Sisi said Putin’s visit stressed Russia’s solidarity with Egypt in its fight against terrorism.
Al-Sisi described Russia as a ‘strategic friend and a real asset for its balanced foreign relations’.
He praised Russia’s ‘brave stances in support of Egypt and its people in sensitive circumstances over the past two years’.
He said the timing of President Putin’s visit confirmed ‘Russia’s solidarity with Egypt in its fight against terrorism’ and ‘developing relations between both countries since the 30 June revolution’ in 2013.
Al-Sisi said they discussed various domains of bilateral ties as they ‘reaffirmed adherence to the constants of strategic relations between Egypt and Russia and the continuation of high-level meetings to exchange deep views on all ties and international and regional issues of mutual interest’.
‘In addition, cooperation between both countries at various regional and international levels will continue to support our joint stances on different issues,’ the Egyptian president said.
Al-Sisi said that they also agreed to continue boosting of military cooperation between both countries, especially under the current circumstances.
‘We also agreed to bolster cooperation in the energy sector, involving various types of energy, including cooperation in domain of peaceful uses of the nuclear energy,’ he said.
He said the agreements signed between both countries would boost Egypt-Russian joint cooperation in the energy sector. He said Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to build a nuclear power station in Al-Dhab’ah area, north-western Egypt, as well as memos of understanding on investments and gas.
‘We also reaffirmed the need to boost economic and trade cooperation ties between both countries, as we agreed to facilitate trade exchange and remove obstacles facing it and cooperate in the field of storing grain,’ Al-Sisi said.
He said that both leaders agreed to streamline efforts to set up a free trade zone between Egypt and Euro-Russian Customs Union.
Al-Sisi said: ‘We also agreed to boost investment ties between both countries and start the establishment of the Russian industrial zone whose location has been set in northern Attaqah on the Suez Canal axis.
‘We also agreed to boost cooperation in the tourism domain, as the Russian president expressed his support of Egypt’s efforts to restore full tourist activity as well as encouraging Russian tourists to visit Egypt.’
Al-Sisi said his meeting with Putin was of special importance in the light of ‘the challenges that Egypt and the Russian Federation are facing at the current phase’.
The Egyptian leader said: ‘We stressed that we are standing side by side to confront these challenges. In the light of spread of the blight of heinous terrorism that the world is suffering, I agreed with the Russian president that the challenge of terrorism that Egypt is facing and that Russia had suffered as well does not stop at any boundaries.’
President Putin also said that both countries agreed to intensify efforts in the fight against terrorism.
Al-Sisi said that they discussed ‘the need for efforts to revive negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to lead to the implementation of the two-state solution and establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.’
He said that they also discussed ‘the need to maintain Libya’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity as well as guaranteeing the unity of Iraq and achieving agreement between various national components’.
Al-Sisi said they agreed that ‘the world needs to develop a more democratic, fairer and safer international system for all countries.
‘There is an urgent need to establish a fairer international economic system and exploit the economic and complementary opportunities available for all sides, regardless of their size or their influence,’ he said.
On 10 February, the Russian nuclear corporation Rosatom and the Egyptian Ministry of Electricity and Renewable Energy signed an agreement on the development of a project to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) in Egypt.
The agreement was signed between Rosatom and the Egyptian ministry during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Egypt.
