Sisi thanks Russian counterpart for Africa-Russian summit

CAIRO– 24 October 2019: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for hosting and organizing the Africa-Russian summit held in Sochi during October 23-24.

During his speech in a joint press conference,Thursday, Sisi expressed his appreciation to the exerted effort by the Russian side for organizing the summit, along with ‘the cooperative spirit’ demonstrated by the African leaders and heads of delegations of the participating AU countries to reach a final statement reflecting the common African-Russian interests.

Sisi explained that issues of peace and security, economic development, and sustainable development goals for 2030 were on the top of the discussed Agenda.

He added that this summit which is being held for the first time comes as a reflection for the African-Russian to strengthen mutual relations.

In a statement to Sputnik news agency, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the summit was Putin’s idea to enhance the Russian-African relations. He added that this summit reflects the good relations between Russia and Egypt.

Sisi and Putin met nearly eleven times since 2014. Their last two summits were during April and June 2019 during the G20 summit in Japan and the Belt and Road Summit in Beijing, respectively.

In statements to the media delegation accompanying President Sisi, Rady referred to the Comprehensive Partnership and Strategic Cooperation Agreement between Cairo and Moscow, which was signed in October 2018, according to MENA news agency.