Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi will begin a two-day visit to Moscow on Wednesday, during which he will meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The two sides will hold a bilateral summit as well as other meetings in the presence of ministers and officials from both countries. According to the Egyptian foreign ministry, Sisi will discuss several files, mainly bilateral relations, trade exchange and cooperation in the field of transport, especially trains. The last visit by Sisi to Russia was in 2015. It was the third of its kind since he took office; while his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, visited Cairo late last year. Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri stressed that Sisi’s visit to Moscow “comes within the framework of coordination and consultation between the two countries.” In remarks published by Russia Today, he noted that bilateral relations would “top consultations between the Egyptian and Russian presidents, who would also touch on expanding trade exchange, currently estimated at $6.5 billion dollars.” The Russian embassy in Moscow, in a preliminary statement prior to the visit, published by the official Middle East News Agency in Egypt, said that Russia, in view of the latest developments, was “seeking to build new alliances and restore old friendships, specifically with Egypt, which has effective influence in the region and the world.” Last month, Shukri and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, discussed in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly the arrangements for Sisi’s visit to Moscow. Shukri said that the visit would “contribute to opening new horizons for cooperation between the two countries in all fields.”