Cairo, Moscow review development of regional issues

CAIRO – 25 August 2017: Egyptian Ambassador to Moscow Mohamed El-Badri met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov on Friday to discuss the development of the situation in the Middle East and North Africa.

The two officials reviewed the peace settlement progress in Syria, Palestine, Yemen and Libya, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agency Novosti.

Bogdanov, also Russia’s Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, exchanged opinions with El-Badri over Moscow’s and Cairo’s mutual efforts to strengthen Russian-Egyptian collaboration in the international arena and advance mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in various areas, including the maintenance of an active political dialogue.

Cairo and Moscow have growing security and political relationships represented by their mutual stances towards many regional issues, such as the Syrian and Libyan conflicts. Egypt has signed arms deals worth billions of dollars with Russia, despite U.S. sanctions, and Russia has affirmed its support for Egypt in its war against terrorism.

According to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs the two parties also discussed developments of the Qatari diplomatic crisis.

On June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Doha on a charges of destabilizing the region by supporting terrorism.