Russia and Egypt ready to take their multifaceted partnership to new level

Russia and Egypt continue working on taking the multifaceted partnership between the two countries to a new level, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov wrote in his article "Russia and Egypt: Time-Tested Friendship and Cooperation" published on the website of Egypt's Al-Ahram newspaper on Saturday.

Lavrov noted that political dialogue between Russia and Egypt is actively developing, and bilateral trade turnover is growing after "exceeding the level of $6.5 billion per year."

"Cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres allows Egypt's armed forces and law enforcment to counter terrorist threats more effectively," the foreign minister noted. "New forms of cooperation in this sphere are successfully tried out. In October 2016 on the territory of Egypt and in September 2017 on the territory of Russia, joint anti-terrorist "Defenders of Friendship 2016" and "Defenders of Friendship 2017" drills were held between the air forces of the two countries," he added.

Moscow and Cairo "consistently support the settlement of multiple crises and conflicts through exclusively political and diplomatic means, as well as uniting the international community for countering terrorism and extremism, and strengthening the regime of the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Lavrov said. "We are ready to boost coordination at different multilateral platforms, particularly with the aim of ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East, as well as observance of the right of peoples in the region to independently determine their future," the foreign minister stressed.

"Thus, all necessary prerequisites are apparent for taking the multifaceted partnership between Russia and Egypt to a new level, in the interest of prosperity of our citizens, of maintaining global and regional stability," the Russian foreign minister concluded.