Egyptian foreign minister plans to visit Russia on March 16 — source

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will visit Russia on March 16, a diplomatic source told TASS on Thursday on the sidelines of the Valdai discussion cub. "The date has been set for talks with the Russian side - March 16," the source said. Egyptian Ambassador to Moscow Mohamed al-Badri previously said that Shoukry’s visit to Russia is "planned soon." It is not ruled out that the sides will also discuss the topic of resuming flights between Russia and Egypt. Tourism industry is expecting it to happen already in March. "NTK Tourist" deputy general director Sergey Tolchin said on February 11 at Regional Tourism Forum in Yekaterinburg that "flights between Russia and Cairo may resume already in March-April, with resorts - in September 2016, according to our forecasts." Russia suspended air service with Egypt after a Russian passenger plane crashed over Sina last October. The A321 plane belonging to Russia’s air company Kogalymavia was en route from Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt to St. Petersburg in Russia (flight KGL 9268) when it crashed over the Sinai Peninsula early on October 31 last year. The plane fell near El Hasna populated locality 100km to the south of Al-Arish, the administrative center of the North Sinai Governorate (province). All the 224 people onboard, including 217 passengers and the 7-member crew, died. The passengers, most of whom were Russians, also included four Ukrainians and one citizen of Belarus.