CAIRO: Egyptian foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will meet Saturday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy for the Middle East and North Africa Mikhail Bogdanov, who is visiting Cairo, according to a statement from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
Both sides will tackle the bilateral relations and international and regional issues of the mutual concerns, particularly the counter-terrorism efforts, Egypt’s state-owned news agency MENA reported Friday.
On Oct. 8, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi made a phone call with his Russian Counterpart Vladimir Putin over ways of combating terrorism in the region, amid the ongoing Russian airstrikes on Islamic State (IS) militants in restive Syria.
Egypt is one of the regional countries supporting the Russian airstrikes in Syria which raised concerns among the countries in the international coalition fighting IS. Moscow has been seen as a staunch ally of the Assad regime, which many western countries believe should step down in order to end the four-year-old war.
Shoukry previously said that the intervention in Syria will have an impact on “confining and eliminating terrorism,” adding “the information available to Egypt through direct contact with the Russian side affirm Russia’s eagerness to counter terrorism and confine its sprawling in Syria and that the reason for its intervention is a fatal blow to Da’ish, [the Islamic State group.]”
Syrian welcomed Thursday Egypt’s stance of not condemning the Russian airstrikes.