MOSCOW, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, signed an agreement Wednesday on comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation between the two countries, the Kremlin said.
Following talks on a whole range of issues of bilateral cooperation as well as key international and regional issues, the two sides signed the agreement that "sets serious and responsible tasks to further deepen Russian -Egyptian ties in various areas," Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.
In particular, the two presidents had thorough discussions about cooperation in the energy sector, industries, tourism, the military-technical field as well as the people-to-people sphere.
Russia will participate in the creation of a modern industrial and logistic zone in the Suez Canal area, which is expected to attract an investment of 7 billion U.S. dollars and create over 35,000 jobs, Putin said.
He also said Russia supports the idea of Egypt reaching an agreement on a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union.
Putin and Sisi also agreed to continue coordination in order to accelerate the Syrian political process.
In addition, in the presence of the presidents, a memorandum of understanding on strategic political consultations was signed between the foreign ministers of the two countries, the Kremlin said in a separate statement.
