British ambassador to Egypt John Casson said Monday that serious negotiations are continuing with Egypt so as to offer British training and advice about securing the airport to restore air links between London and Cairo.
During a meeting with UK trade envoy to Egypt Jeffrey Donaldson and Egyptian businessmen, Casson said that he looks forward to restoring tourism between both countries owing to the importance of the tourism sector.
UK and Russia halted their flights to and from Egypt in the wake of the Russian plane crash in Sinai on 31 October 2015. Though Egypt did not yet announce the final results of the investigation, Russia said that the incident was due to a terror act.
Both the UK and Russia sent delegations to review security in Egyptian airports.
Russian ambassador to Egypt Serge Kirpichenko said Saturday the continuation of flights between Egypt and Russia is dependent on results of the investigation and there is no conjecture over the return of Russian tourism.
”Moscow is confident in its belief that what happened to the Russian plane was a terror act and the current investigation is being carried out accordingly,” Kirpichenko told state-owned MENA. “The explosion of the [plane] was a great misfortune; life cannot be compensated.”
The ambassador refused to comment on the latest reports on the identity of the attackers: “I don’t want to comment on any news published in media outlets … These reports are not credible.”
