Putin held talks with the Egyptian Foreign Minister. The main thing

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ata in the Kremlin on April 2. The main topics of conversation were the Middle East and cooperation between the two countries. The main statements of the Russian leader are in the material of Izvestia.

About the bilateral cooperation

During the conversation with Badr Abdel Ata, the Russian President noted that the countries have many plans for cooperation, many things are already being implemented, including the construction of a nuclear power plant.

More than 10 large Russian companies have declared their readiness to work in this zone, the Russian president said, adding that it is possible to talk about the creation of a grain and energy hub in Egypt.

Nuclear progress: Putin and al-Sisi launched the installation of the reactor vessel of the nuclear power plant

The key stage of the construction of El Dabaa, the first nuclear power plant in Egypt, has begun.

He also said that he had instructed the Russian government to work out the supply of food products to Egypt.

"Following our telephone conversation with the President of Egypt, I instructed the government to work with Egyptian colleagues on the supply of food products to Egypt, primarily our grain. Egypt is our partner, and in this regard, I want to say that last year we had a good result in agriculture, a good harvest, and we have no problems with supplies," Putin said.

The Russian President also recalled the Russia-Africa summit in October this year and expressed hope that Egypt would be represented at a high level.

About the conflict in the Middle East

During a meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister, Putin expressed hope for an early end to the conflict in the Middle East.

"We all hope that the conflict will be ended as soon as possible. Yesterday, here's the President [of the United States Donald] Trump spoke about this, I repeat once again.: For our part, we are ready to do everything to bring the situation back to normal, as they say in such cases, to a normative state," the Russian president said.

Context

By the end of 2025, the trade turnover between Russia and Egypt exceeded $10.5 billion. This was stated by the Russian Ambassador to Cairo, Georgy Borisenko, in an interview with RIA Novosti.

"Trade between Russia and Egypt is growing at a steady pace. According to preliminary Russian statistical estimates, in 2025 the trade turnover exceeded 10.5 billion US dollars. This is a new record," he said, adding that various types of Russian products, including technical products, are entering the Egyptian market.

In 2024, according to him, the volume of trade amounted to $9.3 billion.

The ambassador also mentioned that Western sanctions create certain problems in the implementation of Russia's flagship projects in Egypt. However, they did not affect the construction schedule of Egypt's first nuclear power plant, El Dabaa, which involves the Russian state corporation Rosatom.

El Dabaa is located in the province of Matrouh on the Mediterranean coast, 350 km from Cairo. It will include four power units with Russian VVER-1200 reactor units belonging to the "3+" generation. The total installed electric capacity of the plant will be almost 4.8 GW.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.