Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, is studying the possibility of signing a long-term Russian wheat import agreement and wants to attract more Russian investments to build silos, the Trade Ministry said on Monday.

Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid will meet his Russian counterpart Viktor Khristenko on Wednesday, when he will also discuss a free trade agreement between the two countries, a ministry statement said.

Rachid will discuss, 'the possibility of signing a long term agreement to import Russian wheat of high quality with favourable conditions,' the ministry said without elaborating.

Egypt has bought 3.61 million tonnes of wheat since the start of the 2009/10 fiscal year on July 1, of which 50 per cent was Russian.

The country's state wheat buyer, the General Authority for Supply Commodities (GASC), said on Sunday all Russian wheat shipments that entered Egypt in the last two months were accompanied by quality certificates issued by the Russian agriculture ministry and were approved by the agriculture and health ministries in Egypt.

Quarantine officials in the most populous Arab country had stepped up wheat inspections since June, after a dispute erupted with local wheat importing company Egyptian Traders over the quality of two Russian wheat cargoes and the authenticity of an import document that the firm has said was valid.

The controversy led to the re-export of two Russian wheat shipments.

GASC also tightened the terms it applies to international tenders this year after the incident. The new terms include a requirement to load only 60,000-tonne shipments to Egypt at a single port.

That stipluation has turned out to be a major drawback for French exporters since it rules out France's leading grains port of Rouen, which is too shallow to fully load such volumes.

French wheat accounted for 34 per cent of Egypt's wheat imports since July 1. – Reuters