Swaraj visit: India, Egypt to step economic ties
India’s External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj is all set to begin a two-day standalone bilateral visit to Egypt, North Africa’s influential Arab country, on August 24-25. The maiden visit by Swaraj is expected to provide an opportunity to review bilateral relations between both the countries along with promoting various aspects of mutual interests such as combating terrorism. India is the sixth largest trading partner of Egypt apart from being the second largest export destination.
The total bilateral trade between India and Egypt is USD 4.76 billion as of 2014-15 with India’s imports from Egypt being worth USD 1.74 billion and exports to Egypt worth USD 3.02 billion. “We believe that India can play a strong part when Egypt expands its economy and increases its engagement in the region, Africa and Europe,” India’s ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said. “In addition to politics and economy, there are certain specific areas that both countries would like to have closer cooperation in, including the fields of energy and medicine,” he added