Egypt's ambassador to Russia Nazih El-Nagari said on Tuesday that around 25,000-30,000 Russian tourists visit Egypt per week currently. He added that since the start of 2023 until July, 750,000 Russian tourists have visited Egypt despite the Ukrainian-Russian crisis.
He stated that between January and July 2023, around 750,000 Russian tourists visited Egypt and predicted that the number could surpass one million by the end of the year.
El-Nagari told 90 Minutes TV show's host Basma Wahba during a TV interview on El-Mehwar channel from Moscow that Russian tourism started to recover gradually from September 2021 after the Ukrainian-Russian crisis.
“Most of the charter flights between Russia and Egypt have been restored and currently we got between 25-30,000 tourists who visit Egypt weekly” The ambassador said.
El-Nagari made these remarks before the upcoming Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg on 27-28, which President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is expected to attend.
“This is the second edition of the summit that was held the first time in 2019 and was co-chaired by President Vladimir Putin and President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi as Egypt was the chair of the African Union then,” the Egyptian ambassador said.
Ambassador El-Nagari stated that the upcoming summit holds economic and development objectives, especially during the current global economic crisis.
He disclosed that the summit will be split into two parts: an Economic and Humanitarian Summit on 27 July with emphasis on economic and development issues, followed by a meeting of leaders on 28 July.
“Russia has huge capabilities in the economic and development field, and it tries to provide those capabilities to the African states so they can benefit from them,” he said.
El-Nagri added that African nations and Russia intend to boost their trade balance at the summit, with trade exchange having risen to $18 billion annually over the past four years. He also mentioned that Russia is undertaking megaprojects in Africa, including the Dabaa power plant and the Russian Industrial Zone in Egypt.
“The Dabaa power plant is considered the biggest Russian nuclear power plant built outside Russia,” the Egyptian ambassador said adding that the Russian industrial zone at the Suez Economic Zone will provide Egypt with Russian know-how and technology localization as well as job opportunities for Egypt and access to African markets.
Russia intends to invest more than $7 billion to establish the zone, generating about 35,000 jobs for locals. Regarding the current economic ties between Egypt and Russia, El-Nagri disclosed that agricultural goods remain Egypt's primary export to Russia, and the value of Egyptian exports to Russia in 2022 rose by 25 percent compared to 2021.
