India and Egypt on Wednesday elevated their ties to a strategic partnership as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi unveiled plans to boost cooperation in defence and counterterrorism, and to almost double bilateral trade to $12 billion in five years.
Sisi is on a three-day visit to the country and will be the first Egyptian leader to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26. He held wide-ranging talks with Modi aimed at revitalising bilateral relations, with security and economic cooperation emerging as key pillars.
The Ukraine conflict’s impact on developing countries, especially the rising costs of food, fuel and fertilisers, figured in the discussions, and the two leaders agreed to build reliable supply chains for these commodities, including through government-to-government partnerships.
“Strategic cooperation between the two countries will help in promoting peace and prosperity in the entire region… President Sisi and I decided to elevate our bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership,” Modi said at a joint media interaction with Sisi. The two sides will develop a long-term framework for greater cooperation in the political, security, economic and scientific fields, he said.
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Sisi said increasing defence cooperation is the best proof of the desire on both sides to have a strategic relationship. This will be done through joint military exercises, sharing of experiences and finding new areas of cooperation, he added.
Modi pointed to a significant increase in joint exercises and said: “We have decided in today’s meeting to further strengthen cooperation between our defence industries, and enhance the exchange of information and intelligence related to counterterrorism.”
Both leaders strongly denounced terror and called for concerted global action to tackle it. Modi said India and Egypt are “worried about the spread of terrorism” around the world and believe terror is the “most serious security threat to humanity”.
“Both countries also agree that concerted action is necessary to end cross-border terrorism. And for this, together we will continue to try to alert the international community,” Modi said. The two sides will cooperate to prevent misuse of cyberspace to spread extremist ideologies, he said.
Sisi added the two leaders discussed effective ways to confront terrorism and extremism, and were of the common view that cooperation in necessary to end violence, terrorism and extremism.
The two countries signed five agreements for cooperation in IT, cybersecurity, culture, youth affairs, and broadcasting. One of the memorandums of understanding will facilitate cooperation between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and the Egyptian Computer Emergency Readiness Team in cybersecurity.
Modi said the two sides will increase bilateral trade to $12 billion in the next five years. As part of the focus on economic engagement, the two sides discussed strengthening food and pharmaceutical supply chains affected by Covid-19 and the Ukraine conflict. Sisi called for more flights between the two countries to boost tourism.
Two-way trade is currently worth around $7 billion a year. Egypt last year approved India for wheat imports though only 61,000 tonnes were shipped before New Delhi banned grain exports.
In an interaction with HT after the talks, Sisi said the two sides discussed ways to take forward cooperation in key areas such as ICT and pharmaceuticals. The issue of grain exports from India had also figured, he said.
“Egypt is open and prepared for stronger cooperation in various sectors in the industrial field. We have high respect for India’s inspiring experiences and want to learn from them. We have great appreciation for the efforts exerted by Prime Minister Modi and his accomplishments for India,” he said, expressing appreciation for the “cherished invitation” to him to be chief guest at the Republic Day parade.
Responding to a question on whether Palestine figured in the talks, Sisi described it as a “very significant issue”. He said, “We always say that if this issue is resolved, the whole region will change and become more stable and secure. It will open the way for stronger relations between regional countries.”
He added, “We always encourage Palestine and Israel to move on and pursue the two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.”
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Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra Kwatra told a media briefing that the strategic partnership will be based on four pillars – political and security cooperation, economic engagement, scientific and academic collaboration, and cultural and people-to-people contacts.
“Both leaders strongly condemned the use of terrorism by countries as a foreign policy instrument and called for zero tolerance to terrorism and for all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuaries to terrorists and terror groups, whatever their motivation may be,” he said.
Talmiz Ahmad, who served as India’s envoy to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE, linked the elevation of bilateral ties to Egypt “coming of age” after several years of domestic crises. “India and Egypt have re-established their relations to make them relevant to the new era. While they were brought together by non-alignment in the middle of the last century, now they have been brought together by the concept of new world order based on strategic partnerships of emerging powers,” he said.
Ahmad added, “It is not surprising that there is a strong strategic element in the new relationship. This is founded on shared perceptions related to security concerns. The coming together of these two countries will enhance their capabilities to face new challenges in counterterrorism, cybersecurity and maritime security, especially in the western Indian Ocean.”
