In an interview carried by the Saturday edition of the al-Ahram newspaper, Mr. Fahmy said that agreements due to be signed during the forthcoming visit to Egypt of the Russian Prime Minister, Mikhail Fradkov, would usher in a new era in the development of Russo-Egyptian cooperation in the oil and gas industry.
As the minister explained, Russia and Egypt are moving from agreements and contracts for prospecting and drilling on to the construction of industrial facilities to manufacture oil and gas production equipment.
According to Mr. Fahmy, the possibility of expanding bilateral cooperation was discussed during the recent visit to Cairo by the Director of the Russian Federal Industry Agency, Boris Alyoshin.
The minister also announced that next February, the Russian petroleum company LUKOIL would begin drilling for oil and natural gas in probable deposits north and east of the Suez Canal.
