Russian, Egyptian transport ministers to meet in Egypt next week

Russian and Egyptian ministers of transport is expected to have a meeting in Egypt next week, an official at the Russian Transport Ministry told TASS on Thursday. "A meeting of the Russian Transport Minister with the Egyptian Minister of Civil Aviation may happen next week in Egypt," the official said. Earlier this week, TASS reported with the reference to a source in Cairo said, that Russia’s Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov will arrive in Cairo on September 26-29 as the head of a delegation to negotiate possible resumption of regular air service between the two countries. Shortly before this, Sokolov told reporters that he had plan to visit the country in late September, after which a decision on resumption of flights between Russia and Egypt would be made. In his words, "our partners from Egypt are working actively, but not all of measures necessary to ensure all the norms and requirements of aviation security have been implemented." Russia has been negotiating resumption of air service with Egypt since late 2015. Russia suspended air service with Egypt following the crash of a Russian A321 passenger jet in Sinai. The jet owned by Russia’s Kogalymavia air carrier (flight 9268) bound to St. Petersburg crashed on October 31 some 30 minutes after the takeoff from Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh. It fell down 100 kilometers south of the administrative center of North Sinai Governorate, the city of Al-Arish. The plane was carrying 217 passengers and seven crew members. There were four Ukrainian and one Belarusian nationals among the passengers. None survived. In November, it was announced that the crash had been caused by an act of terror committed by means of a home-made explosive devise with a yield of up to one kilogram of TNT.