OREANDA-NEWS. June 24, 2009. The President was accompanied by Minister of Justice Alexander Konovalov, Head of the Federal Service for Control of Drug Trafficking Viktor Ivanov as well as heads of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation Anatoly Perminov and Sergey Kiriyenko, respectively.
     
Medvedev’s negotiations with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak lasted for over two hours. As a result, the presidents have signed an agreement for strategic partnership between Russia and Egypt. This document indicates that the parties have similar positions of most of the international problems. Medvedev and Mubarak discussed the situation in Africa, the events in Iran and Palestina. Mubarak welcomed Russia’s initiative to host a conference on the Middle East peace process. Medvedev said that the conference will take place this year.

He pointed out that, despite the global economic decline, Russia and Egypt continue discussing the project to create a zone of free trade and a free industrial zone. This time there were new topics on the agenda: nuclear energy, ecology, archiving and fight with drug trafficking.

At first, both presidents were very serious. Mubarak looked serene and detached, his pale face resembling that of a sphinx. But after the signing the atmosphere got much warmer. When Alexander Konovalov and his Egyptian colleague Mamdouh Marei came out of the hall and initialed an extradition agreement, Mubarak leaned towards Medvedev and said something: it must have been a joke as both began to laugh.

In the meantime, Marei and Viktor Ivanov signed an agreement for joint fight with drug trafficking. The agreement is supposed to give a new impulse to the combat with drug trafficking. Today, many of the traditional drug trafficking routes have been changed. For example, the cocaine produced in Latin America is now sent to Western Europe via North Africa. Egypt is a maritime country and sea trafficking has always been very active.

The nuclear energy agreement was concluded before Medvedev’s visit. In an interview to Gazeta Sergey Kiriyenko said that it was the second time in two weeks that he had come to Cairo. Presently, Rosatom is seeking to win the right to build a nuclear power plant in Egypt. After the Chernobyl accident in 1986 Egypt suspended its nuclear energy program to restart it quite recently, in 2007. “Egypt has decided to develop nuclear energy and is inviting us to cooperate. Last year we concluded a relevant agreement. Recently the Egyptians held a tender for selection of a consultant. They have selected an Australian company, our good partner. Last week I agreed with my Egyptian colleagues to set up working groups on four subjects: NPP construction, training of personnel, training of employees of regulatory agencies and uranium mining. Egypt has a very promising uranium deposit and is ready to cooperate with us in prospecting and mining,” Kiriyenko said.

Today, Mubarak is going to show Medvedev the pyramids of Giza. From Egypt Medvedev will go to Nigeria.

In the evening Medvedev delivered a speech at the headquarters of the Arab league. He dwelled on Russia’s relations with the Muslim world.

He said that Russia was a harmonious part of the Muslim world and urged the Arab states to promote inter-religious dialogue, to strengthen the joint fight with terrorism, extremism and proliferation of nuclear weapons and to shortly resume the Palestine-Israeli peace talks.    

Medvedev said that Barack Obama’s recent speech in Cairo had proved that the world’s civilizations are beginning to better understand and to show more tolerant attitude to each other.