CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Enforcing the comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation agreement between Russia and Egypt will deepen the bilateral cooperation and push the relations for better growth in the coming period, according to Egyptian experts.

The agreement was signed in 2018 and entered into force at the beginning of 2021. According to the statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry, the agreement provides continued strengthening of cooperation between the two countries in political, commercial, economic and cultural fields.

"Establishing strategic ties between Egypt and Russia is a normal move based on the historical relations and the good cooperation between the two sides," said Mokhtar Ghobashy, deputy chairman of the Cairo-based Arab Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

It's an important step for the Egyptian foreign policy in enhancing the connection with the influential international poles, Ghobashy told Xinhua.

The agreement was signed during Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi's meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Russian city of Sochi on October 2018, which better defines mechanisms to strengthen cooperation between Moscow and Cairo.

Ghobashy reiterated that Egypt attempted to balance its strategic ties with the United States by the agreement and to stay an equal distance with the world's other top powers.

He referred to the two countries' consensus with regards to the Syrian and the Libyan crises as well as the Palestinian cause.

The agreement will be valid for ten years and include holding annual meetings for the joint Russian-Egyptian commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation.

It will cover areas of military, science and education, tourism, humanitarian and cultural ties.

In 2017, Egypt and Russia have signed a contract for constructing the north African country's first nuclear power station in Dabaa on the Mediterranean coast with 29 billion U.S. dollars, 25 billion dollars of which will be funded by the Russian side in form of a 3-percent-annual interest's loan.

Gamal Mazloum, a military expert, said that the comprehensive agreement reflects the development of ties between Cairo and Moscow that saw remarkable progress under the leadership of President al-Sisi.

Egyptian and Russian ties are very good at the political and military levels, he said, noting that Cairo imports weapons from Moscow without restrictions in contrast to the U.S. stand of freezing some arm deals with Egypt in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising.

He explained that by importing weapons from Russia, Egypt diversified its arming sources in a way that contributed to advancing the Egyptian army's world ranking.

Cairo and Moscow have signed in May 2018 a deal for founding a Russian industrial zone in eastern Port Said as part of the Suez Canal corridor district.

"Egypt pays much attention to restore the cooperation with Russia to its normal path," said Mohamed Qandil, an economic professor with Cairo University.

Meanwhile, Russia considers Egypt the gate to Africa, the economic expert said, adding that Egypt is the first partner for Russia in Africa as making 40 percent of the trade exchange volume between Russia and Africa.

Qandil expected that as the agreement entered into force it will open the road for more flow of Russian tourists, remove the difficulties faced by the Russian investors who target establishing more projects in the Suez Canal economic district and will increase the Egyptian exports to Russia. Enditem

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