World Bulletin / News Desk

A delegation of Russian engineers and experts who had participated in the construction of Egypt's High Dam decades ago arrived in Cairo late on Saturday to attend Golden Jubilee celebrations of the diversion of the Nile.

The 15-member delegation flew from Moscow on board EgyptAir, the Egyptian national carrier.

They were welcomed at Cairo International Airport by officials from the Tourism Promotion Authority, a state-run agency that promotes tourism in Egypt.

The Russians are expected to participate in Golden Jubilee celebration of the diversion of the Nile.

The celebration is organized by the Society of the Graduates of Russian and Soviet Universities, an NGO, at the Egyptian Opera House in central Cairo.

The course of the Nile was diverted in mid-May 1964 to pave the way for the construction of the hydroelectric High Dam, widely considered as the most salient achievement of the era of late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser (1956 – 1970).

The operation was carried out by Russian funding and expertise.

The visit of the Russian experts and engineers to Egypt coincides with remarkable improvement in Egyptian-Russian relations in recent months.

Improving relations with Moscow is seen by some observers as a pressure card used by the current Egyptian regime against the U.S.

Relations between Cairo and Moscow started to make a recovery after the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi by the army last year.

An exchange of visits by the two countries' top officials testified to the improvement.

Local media reports have recently suggested that Egypt was planning to buy Russian arms worth billions of dollars.

Ties between Cairo and Washington, on the contrary, initially became tense following Morsi's ouster, with the White House urging the army-backed interim authorities to restore democratic rule.

But relations have since improved.