Attending the meeting on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, deputy prime ministers Alexander Novak and Alexei Overchuk, 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, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office and Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, 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, Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov, Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit, 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, Head of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Presidential Advisor Igor Levitin, Head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of Sberbank German Gref, and CEO of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev.
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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 (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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