Meeting with President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Attending the meeting on the Russian side were
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Lavrov SergeiMinister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation , deputy prime ministers Alexander Novak Novak AlexanderDeputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation and Alexei Overchuk Overchuk AlexeiDeputy Prime Minister of the Government of the Russian Federation , Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Special Presidential Representative for Financial and Economic Cooperation with
BRICS States and Interaction with the New Development Bank Maxim Oreshkin Oreshkin MaximDeputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office ,
Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential
Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov Peskov DmitryDeputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, Presidential Press Secretary , Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov Ushakov YuryAide to the President , Minister of Industry and Trade, Chair of the Russian side of the Joint Russia-Egypt
Intergovernmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical
Cooperation Anton Alikhanov Alikhanov AntonMinister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation , Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut Lut OksanaMinister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation , Minister of Economic
Development Maxim Reshetnikov Reshetnikov MaximMinister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation , Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov Siluanov AntonMinister of Finance of the Russian Federation , Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit Starovoit RomanMinister of Transport of the Russian Federation , Director of the Federal Service for Military
Technical Cooperation Dmitry Shugayev, Head of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia parliamentary group at the State Duma, Head
of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Leonid Slutsky Slutsky Leonidhead of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia faction in the State Duma , Head of the Republic of Tatarstan
Rustam Minnikhanov Minnikhanov RustamHead of the Republic of Tatarstan , Presidential Advisor Igor Levitin Levitin IgorAdviser to the President, Special Presidential Representative for International Cooperation in Transport , Head of the Federal
Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova Popova AnnaHead of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) ,
Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Sberbank German Gref Gref GermanChairman of the Management Board and CEO of Sberbank , and CEO of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev Likhachev AlexeiDirector General of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom .
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends.
Thank you for attending the BRICS forum. The fact that you are taking part in it having completed the formal accession
procedure during Russia’s chairmanship of this group sends quite a powerful
signal.
In fact, Russia has been paying special
attention to expanding its friendly ties with Egypt, its long-standing and reliable partner. Last year, we marked the 80th anniversary of diplomatic
relations between our two countries.
We have been promoting our multifaceted
bilateral relations across various domains based on the Treaty on Comprehensive
Partnership and Strategic Cooperation, and have generated steady momentum in terms of our trade and economic relations. Egypt accounts for almost one third
of Russia-Africa trade. In 2023, it increased by 16.4 percent, and this growth not
only spilled over into 2024 but also accelerated.
We continue carrying out major joint projects,
including the construction of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and a Russian
industrial zone. The effort to draft a free trade agreement between the Arab Republic
and the Eurasian Economic Union is underway.
We have been maintaining regular and meaningful
political dialogue at various levels. By the way, we are looking forward to seeing your foreign minister in Sochi on November 9 and 10 at the first ministerial
conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. It is our hope that you will
issue the relevant instructions.
Our interparliamentary cooperation is growing stronger. We are paying
considerable attention to developing our ties in education. We have allocated
318 places for your students for the 2024–2025 academic year.
Russia and Egypt have similar approaches to many current global issues,
and we appreciate our cooperation at UN platforms.
The main events of the summit will begin tomorrow, and today we have an opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations, the summit itself, and other
issues of mutual interest.
My dear friend, I am happy to see you. Welcome to Russia.
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi el-Sisi Abdel FattahPresident of the Arab Republic of Egypt (retranslated): In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Mr President, my dear friend,
Allow me to begin by expressing my joy at meeting with you again. I would like to say that we greatly appreciate Russia’s assistance to Egypt
during its accession to BRICS. We also set a high value on the events that
Russia held during its chairmanship. We were interested in attending all these
events. I am delighted to be able to attend this forum with Egypt as a full
member of this group.
Egypt holds our interaction and cooperation in both the bilateral format
and at multilateral platforms in the highest regard. We support the expansion
of BRICS, which is becoming a platform for combating the negative effects of developments on the international stage.
We are also aware of the breakthrough BRICS is making in the interests
of all parties regardless of any pressure, in particular in trade and especially trade between Egypt and Russia.
Mr President, in this context I would like to emphasise the importance
of making settlements in our national currencies. This will protect our interests
and the interests of developing countries worldwide.
We highly appreciate the dynamic development of our bilateral relations since
the signing of a strategic partnership agreement in 2018, especially when it
comes to the implementation of large-scale projects. Mr President, you
mentioned the construction of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and a Russian industrial
zone in the Suez Canal area. Our Parliament is making the final steps towards
ratifying the agreement on the establishment of that zone, which will help prevent
the negative consequences of sanctions and promote the zone’s operation in the interests of our states and BRICS countries.
Thank you, Mr President.
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