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Egypt's Sisi, Russian defense minister discuss military cooperation

Xinhua, November 24, 2015 Adjust font size:

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met on Tuesday with visiting Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in the capital Cairo where they discussed bilateral ties and enhancing joint cooperation particularly in the military field, official MENA news agency reported.

"During the meeting, Sisi commended the historical ties between Egypt and Russia and highlighted the efforts of his country in fighting against terrorism," MENA quoted presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef as saying.

On Thursday, Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to establish a four-reactor nuclear plant which the Egyptian leader described as "an Egyptian dream" and said it would be peacefully used for power generation.

The meeting of Sisi and Shoigu comes amid world concerns over growing terror groups in the Middle East, particularly the Islamic State (IS) militant group that claimed responsibility for late October's Russian plane crash in Egypt's Sinai that killed all 224 on board and the recent attacks in Paris that killed at least 129.

Sisi stressed that combating terrorist and extremist groups in the region requires international cooperation and comprehensive approach "to ensure stopping the fast growth of such groups, limit their ability to recruit new elements and dry up their sources of finance."

Egypt and Russia previously refuted the IS claim of bombing down the Russian plane in Sinai. Later on, Moscow unilaterally announced the plane was brought down by a bomb although an Egypt-led multinational committee is still investigating the tragedy.

The crash added more recession to Egypt's tourism sector as it eventually led some states, including Britain and Russia, to suspend their flights to Egypt's Red Sea resort Sharm el-Sheikh and to evacuate their nationals over security concerns.

Despite Western dissatisfaction, Russia is currently fighting side by side with the troops of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad; the Russian defense minister said earlier that Russian missile strikes killed over 600 IS militants in Syrian city of Deir Ezzor a few days ago. Endit