CAIRO, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed on Monday the importance of developing close relations with Egypt in all fields, Egyptian presidency spokesman said.
Putin also lauded the increase in the trade exchange between the two countries by 14 percent, spokesman Ambassador Alaa Youssef said in a statement.
Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met Monday on the sidelines of the 9th BRICS summit being held in China's Xiamen City.
Both leaders discussed a set of bilateral issues along with resumption of Russian flights to Egypt, the spokesman said.
The Russian president praised the efforts exerted by the Egyptian authorities to secure airports, voicing hope over resuming Russian flights to Egypt soon, he added.
In October 2015, a Russian plane crashed in Egypt's Sinai, killing over 200, mostly Russians.
The security concerns led many foreign countries, including Russia and Britain, to ban their citizens from visiting the country.
Earlier in the day, Russian Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said he will report to the two presidents during their meeting that the Egyptian side has gone to considerable lengths to intensify aviation and transport security measures in airports, particularly in the Cairo International Airport.
"Having studied the security situation in Terminal 2 of the Cairo International Airport, our experts gave a positive assessment of what they had seen," Sokolov was quoted by Russian Tass news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, Sisi asserted Egypt's keenness on buttressing important relations with Russia, highlighting the existing cooperation between the two sides in several fields and joint projects that will be launched in the Russian industrial zone in eastern Port Said and Dabaa nuclear station, Youssef said.
The two presidents also asserted the importance of working out political solutions for the Middle East conflicts so as to maintain the security and stability of the countries of the region.
Sisi arrived in Xiamen on Sunday to take part in the BRICS summit upon an invitation by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The BRICS group comprises the large fast-growing nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
During the Xiamen summit, China will hold the Dialogue of Emerging Market and Developing Countries, where leaders of Egypt, Guinea, Mexico, Tajikistan and Thailand will join the BRICS leaders to discuss global development cooperation and South-South cooperation.
