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Thursday, 24 October 2019

El Sisi brings up Russian flights to Egypt with Putin, but no breakthrough yet

Emiratis want to get involved with the RIZ, Putin tells El Sisi: The UAE has expressed interest in investing in the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ), Russian President Vladimir Putin said during his meeting with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi, according to Tass news agency. “I recently visited our common friends in the United Arab Emirates. They are very interested in this joint project of ours and will also think about how they could fit into our joint development plans in the production sector,” Putin was quoted as saying.

Background: The RIZ is expected to attract as much as USD 7 bn in investments, its backers say. Moscow has recently committed up to USD 190 mn to develop the zone’s infrastructure. The first 500k sqm phase of the 5.25 mn sqm area will be handed over to investors for development by the end of the year, Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCEZ) Chairman Ashraf Zaki said on the airwaves earlier this month. It is expected to produce USD 3.6 bn worth of products by 2026.

Still no breakthrough on Russian flights to Sharm: Just a day after the United Kingdom said it would allow the resumption of direct flights to Sharm El Sheikh, El Sisi raised the same issue with Putin, according to an Ittihadiya statement. The Russian Foreign Ministry’s MENA director, Mikhail Bogdanov, told Sputnik that he hopes to see the issue resolved soon, a message the Russian side has repeated more than once in recent years.

Other news from Sochi:

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