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Russia, Egypt to prepare agreement on civil aviation security

A corresponding agreement was reached at a meeting between Russia's minister of transport and Egypt's minister of civil aviation

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russia’s Transport Ministry and the Ministry of Civil Aviation of Egypt will work out an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the field of civil aviation security. A corresponding agreement was reached at a meeting of the ministers, the Transport Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said in this regard that "guarantees of high security at Egypt’s airport are of top priority importance for starting direct flights between Russian and Egyptian cities."

Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sharif Fathi for his part informed the Russian side about the final stage of the investigation of the air crash of the Russian plane over Sinai in October 2015, the Russian Transport Ministry said.

Russia suspended air service with Egypt following the crash of a Russian A321 passenger jet in Sinai. The jet owned by Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainian and one Belarusian nationals among the passengers. None survived. In November, it was announced that the crash had been caused by an act of terror committed by means of a home-made explosive devise with a yield of up to one kilogram of TNT. The Russian transport minister said that air service will resume after Egypt fully ensures security at airports.