MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi for talks focusing on ways to boost trade between the two nations.

The two leaders have developed a close personal rapport and are seeking to expand bilateral ties, which have strengthened considerably over the past few years.

Opening Wednesday's talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin said that bilateral trade rose by 62 percent last year.

El-Sissi called on Russia to resume direct flights to Egyptian resorts, which Moscow suspended after a bomb planted by the Islamic State group brought a Russian passenger plane down over Sinai in October 2015, killing all 224 people on board.

El-Sissi is on his fourth trip to Russia since taking office in 2014, and Putin visited Egypt in 2015 and 2017.