Russia sees progress after aviation security talks with Egypt

Following high-level meetings between Russian and Egyptian aviation officials, both sides have said that progress has been made on a resumption of flights between the two countries, Ahram Online writes, Vestnik Kavkaza reports.

Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi was in Moscow last week along with a high-level security delegation to resume talks over the return of Russian flights.

The Egyptian minister and Russian Deputy Transport Minister discussed “in detail” the course of working on a draft agreement on cooperation between the Egyptian and Russian government in civil aviation security, the Russian transport ministry said. “To the mutual satisfaction of both parties, the two sides noted significant progress in this direction,” said a statement in Russian by the ministry on its official website.

Both sides expressed mutual interest in the need to continue close cooperation in the full implementation of necessary security measures to create safe flight operations to and from Egyptian airports, it added. They also discussed if there was any need to send more Russian experts to inspect airports in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.

The meeting on Friday came a day before Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov was expected in Cairo to meet with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. Discussions with both leaders were to include “Russian-Egyptian cooperation in the field of civil aviation security and the ‘road map’ aimed at the resumption of air traffic between the two countries,” the ministry’s statement on Friday added.