Vladimir Putin met with President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Hangzhou. The two presidents discussed bilateral cooperation in various areas.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the G20 summit’s working sessions.

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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends, it is a great pleasure to see you.

Mr President, we already had the chance in the corridors yesterday to start discussing our common interests and affairs.

I want to start by saying once again that Egypt is a priority partner and Russia’s longstanding and reliable friend. We have a rich history of cooperation and our bilateral relations have become particularly fruitful over these last years and offer great interest.

I value our good and trusting relations, Mr President. I note too that our relations are developing through our government and parliamentary channels, and we have organised cooperation between our security councils and law enforcement agencies.

Economic cooperation matters are at the centre of our attention, of course. In short, we have plenty to discuss and we are very pleased with this.

I am happy to see you.

To be continued.