Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit wrapped up his official visit to Moscow yesterday. He met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and passed on to him an oral message from President Hosni Mubarak on the bilateral relations with the Russian Federation and Cairo's vision concerning the most important regional and international issues of common concern. Aboul Gheit said during the visit that Egypt would solve the dispute with Russia over wheat imports very soon, and that it would continue to import wheat from its major suppliers.
He added that the concerned Egyptian authorities had to determine whether there was a high proportion of insects in the shipment that Egypt has recently received and whether the shipment fully conformed with international standards or not. He also said he hoped to settle the matter soon, noting that Egypt would continue to import wheat from Russia. For his part, the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia and Egypt had a bilateral mechanism to control the quality of agricultural products, pointing out that this was a normal working situation. Ambassador Hossam Zaki, the official spokesman of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, said the two ministers dealt with some important issues, starting with the upcoming visit by the Russian President to Cairo in late June following an invitation by President Mubarak. He then added that the visit was in the framework of the two countries' eagerness to continue their coordination and consultations on various topics of interest, and reflected their desire to achieve a real breakthrough in terms of bilateral relations at all levels and eventually strategic partnership. Zaki noted that the Foreign Minister held lengthy talks with his Russian counterpart. He said these talks largely focused on ways to strengthen bilateral relations between Cairo and Moscow - especially in terms of economic cooperation through specific projects – and to encourage the private sector in both countries to be the driving force of the trade exchange between the two countries. Finally, he said both countries were interested in engaging in development projects ensuring mutual benefits for the two sides in accordance with market mechanisms.
