Sushma meets Egyptian president, Arab League chief

Upon her arrival in Cairo on Sunday evening, Swaraj said that the main aim of her visit was to strengthen bilateral ties, with a special focus on boosting trade and investment.

Sushma Swaraj is to deliver a lecture on “India’s relations with Egypt and the region” at the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, which will be attended by strategic thinkers, academics, diplomats, intelligentsia and media.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meets Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj at the presidential palace in Cairo yesterday.

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Abu Zeid said that the visit reflects the depth of historical relations between Egypt and India and their keenness to promote joint cooperation in various fields.

Union External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday replied back to Sartaz Aziz’s remark that he has prepared dossiers to be handed over to Ajit Doval about RAW’s involvement in Pak’s terror activities.

“India is a long-time friend of all the countries in the region and we have no major differences with any”.

“We are committed to good governance, transparency, inclusive and sustainable growth and we, as the government, [are] ushering in an era of rapid development”, Swaraj said.

The minister said there were new developments including the recent nuclear agreement with Iran which can open up new vistas of cooperation and reduce frictions. According to her, the South Asian country made the move because of a “direct action-oriented reference made in the resolution to the global Criminal Court, of which India is not a member”.

“This will be our objective”, he said. “He said Egypt and India should be working together visibly on issues of common interests to show to the world that we are together on certain issues”, Wadhwa said.

Egypt has historically been certainly one of India’s most essential buying and selling companions within the African continent.

“India can be strong part in that”, Bhattacharyya said. Trade between India and Egypt during the last financial year (April 2014 – March 2015) has been recorded at US $4.76 billion.

India’s imports from Egypt were worth United States dollars 1.74 billion during 2014-15.

Most importantly, India is the sixth largest trading partner of Egypt – the second largest export destination.

“We also have a very strong base in small and medium enterprises”.