ST. PETERSBURG (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th June, 2019) Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said on Friday that charter flights between Russia and Egypt could resume in 2019, as well as negotiations on Russian aircraft deliveries to Egypt.
Manturov and his Egyptian counterpart discussed on Thursday, on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), prospects of Russian-Egyptian relations.
"We did not discuss this [Russian aircraft deliveries to Egypt] yesterday, but our previously reached agreements stipulate that as soon as charter flights [between Russia and Egypt] resume, we will resume discussing our aircraft deliveries. It is difficult to say when exactly this will happen, but we expect this to happen this year," Manturov told reporters on the sidelines of SPIEF.
Moscow suspended flights to and from Egypt following the 2015 Airbus A321 plane crash over the Sinai Peninsula en route from Sharm El-Sheikh to St. Petersburg, which left all 224 people on board the plane killed. Russia qualified the incident as a terrorist attack, suggesting that Egypt should step up security measures in order for the air traffic to be resumed. Regular flights between the two nations resumed last April.
SPIEF began on Thursday and will last through Saturday. Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency is an official media partner of the forum.
