- India and Egypt agreed on Wednesday to elevate their bilateral ties to a ‘strategic partnership’ that covers political, security, defence, energy and economic linkages.
- Welcoming Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the abuse of cyberspace by extremist forces was a “growing threat”, and that both sides agreed to intensify cooperation in this regard.
- The two sides also discussed “platforms and equipment” to enhance defence partnership.
- “India has invited Egypt as a special guest for the G-20 summit, which shows our special friendship. We have decided that under the India-Egypt strategic partnership, we will create a long-term structure of cooperation on political, security, economic and scientific areas,” he said.
- He added that the scope for cooperation in Indo-Egypt relations, especially in the fields of defence and security, was “unlimited”.
- Modi argued that “despite global changes”, the India-Egypt relation had stayed on track and defence partnership between the two countries would help stabilise the region around the Arabian Sea.
- External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who visited Cairo in October 2022, called on the visiting Egyptian leader and said the exchange “adds a new vigour” to the bilateral friendship.
- In his remarks, President El Sisi said the relations between the two civilisations date back to antiquity, and said that Egypt wishes to welcome more Indian tourists.
- The two teams signed five memorandums of understanding (MoU) covering culture, cooperation on youth matters, cybersecurity, information and technology, and public broadcasting. The two delegations launched a commemorative stamp to mark the 75th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relation.
- “I have requested Prime Minister Modi to create permanent channels to enhance digital connections between small and medium-scale industries, and that will help in improving life of common people. Defence cooperation was part of today’s discussion and our joint military exercise is an example of that cooperation.
- Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra said the two sides took up sub-elements of defence cooperation like “defence training, defence exercises, cooperation both in the fields of platforms and equipment and industrial partnerships between the two countries to forge a stronger base for defence partnership”.
SOURCE: THE HINDU, THE ECONOMIC TIMES, PIB