MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. Russia’s Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said that Egypt plans to finalize its efforts on security enforcement in airports by the end of this year.

"We’ve received a position that as soon as all events are carried out - the Egyptian colleagues think it will be done by the end of the year - they will invite us right off," he said, adding that it will take a week for Russian representatives to arrive in this case.

Sokolov earlier told TASS that the resumption of air travel with Egypt depended on the timetables for installing the biometric access system for staff to secure zones at Egypt’s airports. According to Sokolov, the Russian-Egyptian inter-governmental agreement on cooperation in civil aviation safety may be signed before the end of this year.

The talks on resuming flights between Russia and Egypt have been going on since late 2015 after flights were terminated in November 2015 following a terrorist attack on board an airliner from Sharm El Sheikh to St. Petersburg. After the cessation of air travel, tourist flow from Russia to Egypt dropped by 75%.