#BRICS2024

🇷🇺🇪🇬 On October 22, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and President of Egypt Abdel Fattah el-Sisi held talks on the sidelines of the #BRICS Summit.

💬 Vladimir Putin: Thank you for attending the BRICS forum. The fact that you are taking part in it having completed the formal accession procedure during Russia’s chairmanship of this group sends quite a powerful signal.

In fact, Russia has been paying special attention to expanding its friendly ties with Egypt, its long-standing and reliable partner. Last year, we marked the 80th Anniversary of diplomatic relations between our two countries.

We have been promoting our multifaceted bilateral relations across various domains based on the Treaty on Comprehensive Partnership and Strategic Cooperation, and have generated steady momentum in terms of our trade and economic relations. Egypt accounts for almost one third of Russia-Africa trade. In 2023, it increased by 16.4 percent, and this growth not only spilled over into 2024 but also accelerated.

We continue carrying out major joint projects, including the construction of the El Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant and a Russian industrial zone. The effort to draft a free trade agreement between the Arab Republic and the Eurasian Economic Union is underway.

🤝 We have been maintaining regular and meaningful political dialogue at various levels. By the way, we are looking forward to seeing your foreign minister in Sochi on November 9 and 10 at the first ministerial conference of the #RussiaAfrica Partnership Forum. It is our hope that you will issue the relevant instructions.

Our interparliamentary cooperation is growing stronger. We are paying considerable attention to developing our ties in education. We have allocated 318 places for your students for the 2024–2025 academic year.

Russia and Egypt have similar approaches to many current global issues, and we appreciate our cooperation at UN platforms.

The main events of the summit will begin tomorrow, and today we have an opportunity to discuss our bilateral relations, the Summit itself, and other issues of mutual interest.

My dear friend, I am happy to see you. Welcome to Russia!

#RussiaEgypt

#BRICS2024

🛬 The President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko arrived in Kazan. The Belarusian leader was greeted in a solemn and friendly atmosphere by the head of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov.

Welcome!

📸 BRICS Summit Photo Bank

#RussiaBelarus

#BRICS2024

🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian held a meeting on the sidelines of the #BRICS Summit in Kazan.

💬 Vladimir Putin: This visit to Russia is your first as President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and this has great symbolic importance.

Iran has become a full participant of BRICS, and you know that we strongly supported your application. Earlier, we also vigorously promoted your accession to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. This has given us additional opportunities for cooperation in the international arena.

Recently, we had a very substantive and, I am sure, useful meeting in Ashgabat, where we reviewed the main aspects of bilateral cooperation and the most relevant regional issues. Most importantly, we reaffirmed our policy of mutually strengthening ties in every possible way. Our interaction is on the rise; it is genuinely friendly and constructive. Soon we will be able to consolidate the results achieved with a new major interstate agreement on comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and Iran.

We are grateful to you for accepting the invitation to pay a separate visit to our country to sign this document and other important documents in a ceremonial atmosphere.

As I said in Ashgabat, one of our priorities is to consolidate the emerging positive trends in trade and economic cooperation. We expect this issue to be addressed by the intergovernmental commission, chaired by our Minister of Energy, Mr Tsivilev, and Iranian Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad.

Other priorities include the implementation of major joint initiatives such as the development of Iranian railway infrastructure as part of promoting a major project, the International North-South Transport Corridor project, as well as the construction of the second and third power units at the Bushehr NPP.

📊 Indeed, the Free Trade Agreement signed between Iran and the Eurasian Economic Union at the close of 2023 significantly contributes to the expansion of economic ties.

Cultural and humanitarian cooperation is likewise making good progress. Notably, an intergovernmental agreement concerning the establishment and operation of cultural centres came into effect in July of this year. Moreover, the visa-free regime for organised groups of tourists, operational since August of the previous year, is actively fostering an increase in mutual tourist exchange – a 52-percent growth was observed in 2023.

Today, we will continue our discussions on the most pressing international issues, including the dramatic developments in the Middle East, as well as the situations in Syria and the South Caucasus.

🤝 Generally speaking, I would like to emphasise that the approaches of Russia and Iran towards the global agenda are closely aligned or fully coincide. We are united by a shared aspiration to establish a just multipolar world order, to uphold international norms, and to maintain the pivotal role of the United Nations.

I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my greetings and best wishes to the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. We hold in high regard his attentive and constructive approach to the development of Russian-Iranian relations.

#RussiaIran