Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi discussed enhancing Egypt’s endeavours to establish a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) in a meeting on Sunday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.

El-Sisi affirmed that the establishment of a free trade zone with the EAEU would benefit the two sides as Egyptian products suit the needs of these countries in terms of quality and price, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

The EAEU is a Eurasia-based economic union that consists of a number of post-Soviet states: Russia, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan, with reports estimating their GDP to be around $2 trillion.

Since the establishment of the union in 2015, Egypt has worked to strike a free trade zone agreement with the EAEU states.

In this regard, El-Sisi affirmed Egypt’s keenness to achieve a qualitative leap in the bilateral relations with Armenia, especially by encouraging cooperation between business communities in both countries in a way that helps boost their trade exchange and investments.

The president also affirmed the need to hold the sixth round of the Egyptian-Armenian joint committee for economic, scientific and technical cooperation, given its role as an institutional mechanism for dialogue between the two sides.

He also expressed keenness in developing cooperation with Armenia in several promising fields, including energy, infrastructure, information technology, and food and pharmaceutical industries.

Meanwhile, Pashinyan praised Egypt’s efforts to achieve political solutions to the different crises in the Middle East. He also discussed with El-Sisi several regional issues and crises and their repercussions in relation to European security.

El-Sisi and Pashinyan also agreed on the necessity to intensify coordination and consultations on issues in Eastern Europe and South Caucasus.

They especially agreed on the need to intensify coordination regarding the developments of the Russia-Ukraine crisis and its global economic repercussions.

Pashinyan hailed the progress achieved in Egyptian-Armenian relations over the past period in light of the high-level visits between the two countries. The most recent visit being that of Armenia’s President Vahagn Khachaturyan to Egypt to attend the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El-Sheikh in November last year.

El-Sisi, for his part, praised Armenia’s positive positions towards Egypt and the huge progress achieved in the two countries' relations over the past period.

He also held expanded talks on Sunday with Armenian President Khachaturyan, a day after he arrived in Yerevan as the first Egyptian president to visit the city since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries about 30 years ago.

The president arrived in Armenia on Saturday on the third leg of his visit, which included India and Azerbaijan, where he discussed enhancing cooperation in all fields, including trade and investments.