Egypt Hopes for Increased Numbers of Tourists From Russia This Year, Finance Minister Says

© AP Photo / Petros Karadjias طائرة تابعة لشركة "مصر للطيران"
 طائرة تابعة لشركة مصر للطيران - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 17.04.2024
Subscribe
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - A day earlier, Russia's Ministry of Economic Development said that by the end of 2024, tourist traffic between BRICS countries could almost quadruple to 5 million trips
Cairo hopes to see an increase in the number of Russian tourists this year, Mohamed Maait, Minister of Finance of Egypt told Sputnik.
"I hope it [the number of Russian tourists] will increase," Maait said on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington DC.
Maait also expressed hope that the ongoing conflict and tensions in the Middle East will not affect the number of tourists coming from Russia.
"I hope it will not affect Egypt because Egypt is not part of the conflict," he said. "I hope because Egypt is keeping stability in the region. So I hope it will not affect Egypt."
Stand with BRICS symbols - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 16.04.2024
BRICS Tourist Flow May Grow Almost Fourfold by the End 2024, Russian Economy Ministry Says
Egypt is in talks with domestic and foreign air carriers to launch new flights to Russian cities to increase bilateral tourist traffic, Egyptian Tourism Authority (ETA) chief Amr El Kady told Sputnik in March.
Maait added that Egypt wants to have more trade and cooperation with Russia.
“We import from Russia many products like wheat and many others. We hope that in the future there will be more and more cooperation, particularly trade cooperation,” Maait said on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington DC.
Maait added that Egypt now has a lot of collaboration with Russia.
“You know, these nuclear stations for electricity in Egypt, they are building for us. We have also the industrial zone and the Suez Canal economic zone. We have a lot of cooperation with Russia,” he explained.
Trade between Russia and Egypt grew by 20% last year, reaching $7.2 billion, according to preliminary data, Russian Ambassador to Cairo Georgiy Borisenko told Sputnik in February.
Last year, Egypt expressed its readiness to join BRICS and applied for membership in the organization in early June. At the beginning of 2024, Cairo officially entered the economic bloc.
Newsfeed
0