MOSCOW, August 24. /TASS/. Egypt’s Defense Ministry intends to take all spheres of military cooperation with Russian colleagues to a new level, Egyptian Minister of Defense and Military Production Mohamed Ahmed Zaki stated during a meeting of the joint Russian-Egyptian commission on military-technical cooperation in Moscow on Tuesday.

"The progress that has been achieved over such a short period of development of various directions of our military cooperation confirms yet again that we are on the right track. We greatly desire to continue developing this interaction in all spheres and in the spirit of mutual trust," he said at the beginning of the meeting.

The defense minister noted the mutual intention of the political leadership of the two countries to rekindle the long-held friendly relations linking the people of Russia and Egypt. "This is particularly important in light of the increasing level and variety of threats in their standard and non-standard forms, caused by the deteriorating situation in the sphere of international security," he said.

He also noted the necessity to restore stability and security in the Middle East while rejecting meddling in the internal affairs of other countries under various pretexts.

General Zaki thanked his friend Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for the invitation to the Army forum as well as for the attention in implementing the tasks of bilateral military-technical cooperation.