President Putin, Medvedev to meet with Egypt's president to discuss joint projects

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday. Al-Sisi is currently in Russia on a three-day visit on the invitation of the Russian president. The Russian government's press service said that talks will begin on Tuesday, October 16, when the Russian prime minister will discuss the Egyptian president the implementation of joint projects.

"Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi plan to discuss the state and prospects of developing bilateral trade and economic cooperation with an emphasis on large-scale joint projects in energy, industry, agriculture and other spheres," the press service said.

Talks between Putin and al-Sisi will start in the evening on Tuesday in the informal format, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "We will have a bloc related to the visit of Egypt's President al-Sisi to the Russian Federation. These contacts will happen in Sochi," Peskov said. The Kremlin spokesman stressed that "this is a very effective format for talks, which allows the heads of state to discuss the most pressing issues tete-a-tete before the start of official talks."

Full-format talks are scheduled for October 17. The Kremlin press service said earlier that "the leaders will discuss the key issues of broadening Russian-Egyptian cooperation and will exchange opinions on the relevant matters on the international agenda."

Several joint documents are expected to be signed after the talks. In particular, the official portal of legal information has earlier published the presidential decree approving the signing of an agreement on partnership and strategic cooperaiton with Egypt.