On August 21, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who is in Moscow on a working visit.

During the meeting, Sameh Shoukry delivered a personal message from President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

The talks were held in the traditional atmosphere of openness and confidence, which informs the nature and substance of the overall Russian-Egyptian political dialogue. The parties confirmed the intention of Moscow and Cairo to continue active interaction on international issues and to strengthen the multidimensional and mutually beneficial cooperation between Russian and Egypt.

There was an in-depth exchange of views on a wide range of issues on the regional and international agendas, with emphasis on the need to combine efforts to promptly resolve the crises in the Middle East and North Africa, including Syria, Libya, and Yemen. Considerable attention went to the problems related to the joint fight against terrorism and extremism, and prospects for creating a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. The prospects of reviving the Palestinian-Israeli settlement process were also discussed.

While discussing key bilateral issues, the emphasis was on stepping up practical efforts to expand trade, economic and humanitarian cooperation, including preparing and organising the corresponding Intergovernmental Commission session in Moscow this September.