CAIRO. Nov 14 (Interfax) - Russia intends to bolster military cooperation with Egypt and to raise the intensity of bilateral contacts, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Thursday.
"We are seriously inclined to develop Russian-Egyptian relations in the military field and to increase the intensity of bilateral contacts," he said at a meeting with Egyptian Defense Minister Col. Gen. Abdel Fattah Said Elsisi.
A strong and democratic Egypt is an important factor for peace in the Middle East, Shoigu said. "Hopefully, the current complicated period in the life of this amicable country will end shortly through peaceful resolution of problems," the defense minister said.
In his words, the two defense ministries confirmed their interest in bilateral cooperation on Wednesday. Russia traditionally gives much attention to its contacts with Egypt, he added.
"Today I expect to continue the constructive dialogue on the entire range of military and military-technological cooperation issues. I also suggest discussing pressing matters of global and regional security," Shoigu said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that the Russian and Egyptian defense ministers had discussed military-technological cooperation.
"We had a detailed discussion of our political dialogue, and military and military-technological cooperation issues were on the agenda of the negotiations between my colleague S. Shoigu and Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Mr. Elsisi," Lavrov said after his negotiations in Cairo.