Sameh Shoukry’s visit to Russia comes a few hours after his talks with his American counterpart, Anthony Blinken, in Cairo, which focused mainly on discussing ways to calm the Palestinian territories after the recent wave of escalation, in addition to other issues, including the Renaissance Dam and the situation in Libya and Sudan.
According to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, Shoukry will meet during the visit with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov, in addition to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov, and Secretary General of the National Security Council Nikolai Patrushev.
The Egyptian minister will discuss with Russian officials all the files of bilateral relations between the two countries, and the progress made in implementing cooperation projects, in a way that achieves the interests of the two countries.
Abu Zeid said that the visit will provide an opportunity for the Egyptian and Russian sides to consult and exchange views on many international and regional files that affect the common interests of the two countries, including the developments of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and its various repercussions.
Shoukry and Lavrov held extensive talks in Cairo in late July, at the start of the Russian minister’s tour to the African continent, the first since the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
Moscow and Cairo are cooperating in a number of files, most notably the construction of the Dabaa nuclear plant, which is the first nuclear plant of its kind in Egypt, which is being implemented by the Russian company, Rosatom, in addition to the Russian industrial zone in the Suez Canal economic zone.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister, as part of an Arab delegation, had previously offered mediation in resolving the ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
Balanced strategic relationships
Ayman Samir, an expert specializing in international relations, believes in his statements to “Sky News Arabia” that Cairo maintains building balanced strategic relations, and therefore the visit of the Egyptian Foreign Minister to Russia comes to confirm the ability of the Egyptian state to diversify options and relations in all tracks, whether in the West or East, especially since it comes after the US Secretary of State’s visit to Cairo.
Regarding cooperation files and the significance of that visit, Samir said:
- The framework of the Egyptian-Russian relationship is the full strategic partnership agreement signed by the presidents of the two countries in 2019 and entered into force in January 2021. This agreement covers all areas of cooperation between the two countries in all tracks.
- In the political field, there is cooperation and consultation between the two countries according to the mechanism of cooperation and discussion in the formula (2 + 2), which is the formula of the defense and foreign ministers of the two countries, and it started since 2014.
- Russia cooperates with Egypt on many political issues, according to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, respect for the development model of each country, and not to impose a model from abroad on Arab or African countries.
- Moscow and Cairo also cooperate in the security field to preserve the national security of each country and combat terrorist organizations and groups, and there is a very large convergence in the two countries’ vision of how to deal with terrorism issues.
- There has been military cooperation between the two capitals for decades, especially since the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Soviet Union, and until now joint exercises are being conducted between the two armies.
- In the economic field, the value of trade exchange between the two countries increased during 2021 to about $4.7 billion, compared to $4.5 billion in 2020. There is also cooperation in the tourism field, as Egypt relies heavily on Russian tourists.
- Egypt is one of the largest countries that imports grains, especially wheat, from Russia, and is counting on the return of Russian exports of wheat as it was before the outbreak of the war.
- There is close cooperation in the field of energy, as Russia is building the Dabaa nuclear plant, and Egypt has already agreed with Russia to provide it with nuclear fuel for the Dabaa plant.
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