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Egypt works on security at airports, seeks to learn from Russia - foreign minister

"We are trying to take into account Russia’s experience", Saleh Shoukry said

CAIRO, April 6. /TASS/. Egypt works on security at domestic airports and tries to learn from Russia’s experience, Egyptian Foreign Minister Saleh Shoukry said on Saturday after talks with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Cairo.

"We have an unprecedentedly high level of cooperation with Russia [on the issue of resuming Russian charter flights to Egyptian resorts], we are trying to take into account Russia’s experience," he said recalling numerous visits by delegations of Russian experts who had inspected security measures at Egypt’s air hubs.

"We welcome Russian delegations within the framework of technical cooperation in order to resume direct flights to the resorts and pledge to do our best to ensure security, so that Russian tourists can come on holidays to the Egyptian resorts again," he said.

According to the minister, in spite of the general situation in the region, Egypt is doing everything possible to keep terrorism out of its territory.

All flights between Russia and Egypt were cancelled in November 2015 after an A321 passenger jet owned by Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31, 2015, some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt’s resort of Sharm El Sheikh.

In 2016-2017, the sides negotiated the resumption of aviation service. A new terminal meeting all aviation security requirements was been constructed in the Cairo airport. Before flights resumed, Russian aviation experts inspected the airport several times.

In January 2018, Putin signed a decree to resume regular flights between Russia and Egypt. The first flight from Moscow to Cairo took place on April 11, 2018.

However, charter flights to Egyptian resort towns, particularly Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada, remain suspended to date.