SOCHI - Moscow and Cairo signed on Wednesday an agreement on comprehensive cooperation and strategic partnership following the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah Sisi.
At the same time, the Russian and Egyptian foreign ministries signed a memorandum on strategic political consultations.
The documents were signed in the presence of the two presidents. Sisi is currently on a three-day visit to Russia. Earlier in the day, he had a narrow format meeting with Putin to discuss trade, crisis settlement in the Middle East, bilateral defense cooperation and resumption of Russia-Egypt direct air services.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday Russia and Egypt will continue to jointly work on searching for ways to overcome the internal political crisis in Libya.
“Russia and Egypt will continue to work together on searching for ways to overcome the internal political split in Libya, and to restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Putin said.
In turn, Sisi said that Russia and Egypt confirmed the need to implement the initiative of the UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame.
The action plan aimed to advance political reconciliation in Libya and help the Libyan people achieve lasting peace and security was presented by Salame in September 2017.
“We also reaffirmed the need for strict implementation of the initiative of the UN special envoy for Libya, Ghassan Salame, by all members of the international community, while avoiding other solutions … The search for parallel solutions leads only to prolonging the crisis and aggravating differences,” he said.
Sisi also noted the risks of engaging armed groups in ensuring security in the country, stressing the need to entrust these tasks only to the regular army along with security and law enforcement forces.
Libya has been in turmoil since the overthrow of its long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The eastern part of the country is governed by the parliament, backed by the Libyan National Army (LNA) and located in Tobruk. The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, operates in the country’s west and is headquartered in Tripoli. Libya is set to hold its general elections on December 10.