Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on Monday in Egypt, airport officials said, on a landmark two-day visit aimed at boosting Moscow’s relations with Cairo, according to Agence France-Presse.

Putin was welcomed by his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on arrival at the capital’s international airport where the two leaders held talks for half an hour, officials said.

From the airport they proceeded to Cairo Opera House in the city’s central district of Zamalek for a cultural show.

Putin’s first visit to Egypt in a decade comes after the 2011 uprising that ousted ex-strongman Hosni Mubarak, whom the Russian leader met on a previous trip in 2005.

Al Arabiya