New Delhi: The month of June is a busy time for Indian diplomacy as after a flurry of foreign delegate visits to New Delhi and vice versa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set to visit Egypt to bolster ties with the North African country with a focus on defense cooperation and education.
The visit to Egypt will be an extension of PM Modi's US trip. The upcoming visit to Cairo is in line with the visit of the President of Egypt to India in January this year as the chief guest of Republic Day. It is a gesture to show the growing ties between the two nations. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visited India in January as the chief guest at India's Republic Day celebrations.
The two leaders have engaged in multiple sectors and developmental projects. Most importantly, Defense cooperation between India and Egypt has gained momentum. According to sources, Egypt has expressed interest in acquiring various defense equipment from India, including the LCA Tejas aircraft, the Akash missile system, and the DRDO's Smart Anti-Airfield Weapon (SAAW).
India has been open to sharing technology and exploring possibilities for co-production. The growing defense collaboration between the two nations comes at a time of a major geopolitical shift due to the Russia-Ukraine war. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh paid an official visit to Egypt last year. During the visit, a Memorandum of Understanding to provide further impetus to enhanced defence cooperation between India and Egypt was also signed.
Both sides reviewed the bilateral defence ties, explored new initiatives to intensify military-to-military engagements, and focused on deepening cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries.
India and Egypt have also collaborated on premier higher educational institutes and Cairo has shown interest to establish an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), which will further bolster academic, scientific, and cultural cooperation between India and Egypt, along with the exchange of knowledge and best practices in teaching, research and administration. The visit of PM Modi to Cairo will see a major push to education diplomacy between the two nations. This will be Modi's first trip to Egypt after assuming office in 2014.
It is pertinent to note that India and Egypt have similar stances when it comes to terrorism and Cairo has condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestation and has not supported Pakistan's policies with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. In May this year, India and Egypt held the 2nd round of India-Egypt Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) in Cairo.
During the consultations, both sides undertook a comprehensive review of the entire range of bilateral relations, covering politics, trade and commerce, investments, development partnerships, capacity building, culture, and people-to-people linkages. They also discussed ways to further strengthen ties between India and Egypt and enhance cooperation in multilateral forums. Both sides exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest including climate change, resilient supply chains, and participation of Global South under India's G20 Presidency.
Also read: PM Modi holds talks with Egyptian President Sisi; signs 5 MoUs
