(Associated Press) - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for a three-day visit expected to bring affirmations of warm ties and talks on issues ranging from bilateral trade to the Middle East conflict, Russian news agencies reported.
The visit comes days after the longtime Egyptian leader lavished Russian President Vladimir Putin with praise and urged him to run for a third term in 2008 despite a constitutional two-term limit a call that has been made by some Russian politicians but contradicts Western hopes for a democratic transfer of power, reports Trend.
Mubarak, who visited in May 2004 and hosted Putin last year, is slated to meet with the president and separately with Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and Russian industry and business leaders. The two countries' foreign ministers are also to hold talks.
Topics of discussion during the visit will include the Middle East conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement, emphasizing Egypt's "leading political role in the region" and Russia's "weighty involvement" in peace efforts.
Pro-autonomy party set to win Catalan electionHe called cooperation between Russia and Egypt "a significant factor that has a positive influence in the stabilization of the atmosphere in the Middle East."
Kamynin called the relationship between Russia and Egypt a "strategic partnership" and said the visit wold foster closer bilateral ties and coordination of their activities in international and regional affairs, according to the statement.
He said the volume of trade between Russia and Egypt reached US$1.6 billion (в'¬1.25 billion) in 2005 and had increased by more than 50 percent in the first eight months of this year over the same period last year, to more than US$950 million (в'¬745 million) .
Kamynin plugged industrial ties, saying a factory near Cairo began producing Russian Lada cars last year and that a plant that will assemble Russian-designed minivans is to open soon, while Egyptian business are involved in a joint project to produce Tupolev Tu-204 planes in Russia.
Egypt's Red Sea resorts are a major destination for Russian tourists, with some 850,000 Russians visiting the country last year up from 600,000 in 2004, the statement said.