Moscow is confident that the scale of tourism cooperation with Egypt will be restored after the lift of the state of emergency in that country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in a press conference on Thursday after his negotiations in Cairo. "We have agreed on the intensive development of dialogue on tourism. This is an extremely important area of our relations and part of stabilization efforts in Egypt; as I understand, the lift of the state of emergency regime which occurred yesterday can restore the scale of tourism cooperation. I am absolutely positive about that," Minister Lavrov added The Russian minister pointed out that his country's foreign office never prohibited its tourists from traveling to Egypt, but only cautioned them against being present in areas where clashes and violence are taking place. He further referred that the number of tourist trips from Russia to Egypt is 100 per week. "The Russian government may advise not to travel to a country due to the state of emergency or other circumstances that can hamper its ability to protect its citizens. That is the kind of concern that the Russian Foreign Ministry made after the Egyptian Republic declared a state of emergency in August of this year." Egypt's Red Sea resorts are popular among Russian tourists, in part because tourist visas there can be purchased on arrival. Egyptian tourism minister Hisham Zaazou has been touring the world to persuade officials to remove travel warnings imposed on Egypt, most recently visiting Germany, France and Russia. The latter sent security experts to Egypt's Red Sea governorate to verify its safety.
