India-Egypt Bilateral Relations  *

    India and Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship during the Nehru-Nasser era, and signed a Friendship Treaty in 1955. The birth of Non-Aligned Movement was, inter alia, the outcome of this relationship. President Mubarak visited India in 1982, and again in 1983 to attend the NAM Summit. In 1995, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding was conferred on President Mubarak.  Since the 1980s, there have been three Prime Ministerial visits from India to Egypt: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi visited Egypt in 1985; Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao in 1995; and, Prime Minister Gujral in 1997. Prime Minister Deve Gowda met President Mubarak twice - in Harare in November 1996 on the margins of the G-15 Summit, and in January 1997 on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos.

2.       In January 2003, Dr. Fathi Sorour, Speaker of the People’s Assembly, led a delegation of Egyptian parliamentarians to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Indian Parliament. From the Indian side, a goodwill delegation of parliamentarians led by the late Mr. Pramod Mahajan, then Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Communications and Information Technology visited Cairo in January 2003.

3.       Ministerial level visits from Egypt to India since 2000 include those of the Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr. Boutros Ghali in January 2002; Minister of Supply and Internal Trade, Hassan Khedr and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Fayza Aboul Naga in October 2003; Minister for Investments, Dr. Mahmoud Mohi El Din attended the India Economic Summit in December 2004 and, in the same month, Minister for Tourism, Dr. Ahmed El Maghrabi also visited India; Minister of State for Military Production,  Sayed Meshaal in January 2006; Minister of Communications and IT, Dr. Tarek Kamal in November, 2006; Minister of State for Administrative Development, Dr. Ahmed Darwish in December 2006; Minister of Social Solidarity Mr. Ali Al-Moselhi in January 2007; and, Egyptian Tourism Minister Mohamed Zoheir Garranah in April 2007. Minister for Trade & Industry Mr. Raschid Mohamed Raschid and Minister for Agriculture & Land Reclamation Mr. Amin Abaza visited India in April 2008. The National Democratic Party of Egypt was represented at the Satyagraha Centenary celebrations in Delhi in January 2007 by Dr. Mohammed Abdellah, the head of the Party’s Foreign Relations Committee. 

4.       High-level visits from the Indian side include those of External Affairs Minister Mr. Jaswant Singh in February 2001; Minister of State for Small Scale Industries, Mrs. Vasundhara Raje in September 2002;  Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, Minister of Human Resource Development in December 2003 to attend the E-9 ministerial meeting; Mr. T R Baalu, Minister for Shipping & Surface Transport in November 2004; a high-powered delegation led by the External Affairs Minister and including the Minister of Railways attended the memorial service for President Yasser Arafat in Cairo in November 2004; Minister of State for Tourism, Mrs. Renuka Chowdhury in December 2005; Dr Ashwini Kumar, Minister of State of Industry attended the World Economic Forum meeting on the Middle-East hosted by Egypt in May 2006; and, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Mrs. D. Purandareswari visited Egypt in November 2006 for the UNESCO meeting on “Education for All”.   Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Mr. Murli Deora and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment, Mrs. Meira Kumar paid official visits to Egypt in April and June 2007, respectively. Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Shivraj Patil visited Egypt on 5-9 January 2008. Mr. Patil was received by President Mubarak on 6 January. On 8 January, Mr. Patil and Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit signed the Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. The Minister of Textiles, Mr. Shankarsinh Vaghela led a delegation to Egypt on 30 January -1 February 2008. Minister of State for External Affairs Mr. Anand Sharma called on Prime Minister Nazif on 31 January 2008 on the margins of the 10^th AU Summit in Addis Ababa. A delegation from the Indian National Congress attended the annual convention of the National Democratic Party of Egypt in November 2007.

5.       Dialogue with Egypt has also been maintained in structured format through meetings of the Joint Commission (in 1985, 1988, 1997, 2001 and 2006) and Foreign Office Consultations (in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006 and June 2007). India’s Special Envoy for West Asia and the Middle East Peace Process, Ambassador C.R. Gharekhan visited Cairo in February and September 2007 and April 2008. Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Ambassador Hussein Darar visited India in December 2007.

6.       The Egyptian Foreign Minister, Mr. Aboul Gheit visited India on 15-16 December 2006. The 5^th session of the Joint Commission, co-chaired by the Minister of External Affairs of India and the Egyptian Foreign Minister, was held during the visit on 16 December 2006. Mr. Aboul Gheit had extensive discussions with the External Affairs Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee and called on the Defence Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony. Five agreements were signed including the Partnership Agreement; an MoU on bilateral air services; the Work Plan on agricultural cooperation; the Executive Programme on cultural exchanges; and, the Executive Programme on cooperation in the field of science and technology.

India-Africa Forum Summit (4-9 April 2008, New Delhi)

7.         Minister for International Cooperation, Ms. Fayza Aboul Naga represented President Mubarak at the India-Africa Forum Summit. On 9 April, Ms. Fayza Aboul Naga called on Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Ambassador Shamel Nasser, Assistant Foreign Minister for Africa and African Unions Affairs represented Egypt’s Foreign Minister at the ministerial meeting. Dr. Gaber Saied Awad, Director, Centre for Asian Studies at Cairo University participated in the international conference on ‘Africa-India Partnership in the 21^st century’ hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi on 2-3 April. Egypt was represented in the outreach programmes for youth and women and an Egyptian folkdance troupe participated in the cultural component of the Forum Summit.

Bilateral Economic and Commercial Relations

8.         Egypt has traditionally been one of India’s most important trading partners in the African continent. The India-Egypt Bilateral Trade Agreement has been in operation since March 1978 and is based on the Most Favoured Nation clause. Bilateral trade figures are given below:

India-Egypt Trade

(million US$)

Source: CAPMAS of Egypt

9.         India emerged as Egypt’s third largest trading partner behind the US and Italy in 2006. In 2007, India’s rank was fourth behind the US, Italy and Saudi Arabia. For both the years, India was the largest importer of Egyptian products. According to Egyptian trade figures, India’s exports to Egypt amounted to USD 534.00 million in 2007, a growth of 51% over the 2006 figure. India’s imports from Egypt stood at USD 1882.64 million during 2007, showing a growth of 35% over the previous year. Nearly 95% of Egypt’s exports to India comprise oil and gas. Coking coal, raw cotton, rock phosphate, and marble constitute the other import items. The principal Indian export items include frozen meat, cotton yarn and synthetic yarn, rice, diesel, tobacco, electrical machinery, soybean, chemicals, automobiles and components, sugar, pharmaceuticals and tea.

10.       Exclusive Indian exhibitions were organised in Cairo in April 1998 and September 2000. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Trade declared 2002 as Year of India in Egypt. Indian companies have been regular participants in the annual Cairo International Trade Fairs. Under the aegis of ITPO, 40 Indian companies participated in the Cairo International Fair in March 2008. The Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) of India participated in the MACTECH Fair in Cairo in November 2006 with its own pavilion (INDEE) in which over a hundred Indian companies were represented. The Synthetic and Rayon Textile Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) organised an exhibition in Cairo in February 2007. CHEMEXCIL (Basic Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals & Cosmetics Export Promotion Council of India) delegations visited Egypt in March, September and December 2006. Delegations from the Chemicals & Allied Products Export Promotion Council (CAPEXIL) visited Egypt in December 2006 and February 2007. Several delegations from the Tea Board of India have also visited Egypt. A FICCI delegation visited Egypt in June 2007 to participate in SMETECH (exhibition for small/medium enterprises), and a delegation from the Federation of Indian Export Organizations visited Egypt in September 2007. A fourteen-member delegation from the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship, Guwahati visited Egypt in February 2008.

11.      CII and the Embassy organized the ‘Made in India Show’ in Cairo on 20-23 November 2007. 115 Indian companies participated in the exhibition. Coinciding with the Show, a 20-member CEOs delegation also visited Cairo.  The delegation called on Minister for Finance, Dr. Boutros Ghali; Minister for Agriculture & Land Reclamation Amin Abaza; and Minister for Housing, Utilities& Urban Communities, Ahmed Amin El-Maghraby. Representatives of Indian companies had discussions with the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI) and the Egypt-India Joint Business Group. CII and FEI signed a MoU on cooperation. A seminar -“Business Opportunities in India and Egypt”- was also held during the Show.

12.     A CII-CEOs delegation visited Egypt from May 20-23, 2002 at the invitation of Minister of Foreign Trade, Dr. Youssef Boutros Ghali. Egypt was represented at ministerial level at the CII Partnership Summits in 1998 and 2002.  An India-Egypt Joint Business Group (IEJBG) was set up in November 1997 to promote joint ventures and investment projects. The first meeting of the IEJBG was held in Cairo in May 1999 and the second in Bangalore in January 2002. A joint meeting was held in New Delhi in December 2004.

13.     IIM-Ahemdabad has joined hands with Future Generation Foundation (FGF), a NGO funded by private sector companies in Egypt, to undertake an Accelerated Management Development Programme in Egypt, the first of which was held in May 2005 and the second in November 2005. Within the framework of the Advanced Management Training programme (AMP) of IIM-Kolkata, 19 senior executives of leading public and private sectors organizations of India visited Egypt in October 2005. In September 2006, the Social Fund for Development of Egypt signed a MOU with the National Research Development Corporation for setting up technology demonstration centres in Egypt.

Indian Projects in Egypt

14.     The Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement between India and Egypt entered into force in November 2000. The Vice Chairman of the General Authority for Investments and Free Zones of Egypt led a delegation to India April 2007. A GAFI delegation that visited India in April 2008 on an investment promotion campaign, participated in FICCI’s India-Arab Investment Conclave. According to the Egyptian sources, India is the 12^th largest foreign investor in Egypt with a total investment of approximately US$ 750 million in close to 40 projects.  Alexandria Carbon Black (ACB) set up by Grasim India Limited with TRENCO and ATC as Egyptian partners has been the leading successful joint venture between Indian and Egyptian companies.  A new acrylic fibre plant - Alexandria Fibre Co. was subsequently set up by the Aditya Birla Group with an initial investment of $ 60 million. Other projects include the JV between Asian Paints and SCIB Chemical, (Orascom Group); in October 2004, HDFC facilitated the setting up of EHDC (Egyptian Housing Development Company) by acquiring 10% equity and providing technical as well as management assistance; IFFCO has signed an agreement with Al Nasr mines to establish a phosphoric acid plant in Upper Egypt entailing an investment of over $ 350 million; the Oberoi group has been managing a hotel and Nile cruises; ESSEL of India has set up a JV for manufacturing laminated tooth paste tubes for Proctor and Gamble in Egypt; Dabur India Ltd. has established a 100% owned facility for the production of its cosmetics line; Niletex, a 100% Indian company manufactures PVC water-storage tanks; M/s. Auto Tech Engineering, another 100% Indian company, manufactures auto valves; Kirloskar Brothers assemble diesel engines and irrigation pump sets in Egypt; Ranbaxy has an Egyptian subsidiary for manufacturing pharmaceutical formulations; Ashok Leyland, in collaboration with the Engineering Automotive Manufacturing Company of Egypt are assembling and selling mini buses in Egypt; in January 2008, Mahindra & Mahindra have launched their ‘Scorpio’ SUV in the Egyptian market collaboration with  the Bavarian Auto Trading Company; TATA Motors have an office in Egypt and, in 2007, they launched their entire range of vehicles in the Egyptian market; Marico, an Indian consumer goods company has acquired two hair care brands from Egypt’s Ready Group; SBI has a Representative Office in Cairo. In March 2007, the Sanmar Group completed acquisition of a unit of Trust Chemicals of Egypt. In June 2007, South Asian Petrochem Ltd. entered into a shareholders agreement with Echem of Egypt to set up a US$ 250 million PET resin plant in Egypt.

Oil and Gas

15.       Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Mr. Murli Deora led a high-level delegation Egypt on 22-25 April 2007. Mr. Deora called on President Mubarak (to whom he handed over a personal letter from PM) and the Egyptian Minister for Trade and Industry. He also held discussions with Minister for Petroleum of Egypt, Eng. Sameh Fahmy. Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has equity and management stake in two gas distribution ventures in Fayoum and Cairo as well as in Natgas. In April 2007, OVL and its partner IPR Red Sea Inc. announced a significant oil field discovery in the North Ramadan Concession in the Gulf of Suez, the contract for which dates to August 2005. On 9 March 2008, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC) signed a Concession Agreement for the North Hap’y and South Diyur oil and gas exploration blocks. Indian Oil Corp. has expressed interest in working with the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation to build an oil refinery in Egypt and entrusted the pre-feasibility study to Engineers India Limited.

Communications and IT

16.     A delegation of IT companies from Egypt visited IT companies in Bangalore and Hyderabad in July 2006. During the visit of Mr. Tarek Kamel, Minister of Communications and Information Technology to India in November 2006, an MoU on CIT cooperation was signed at the governmental level. In addition, three MoUs were concluded at the industry level. The first meeting of the Indo-Egyptian Joint Working Group on ICT was held in Cairo in January 2008. TRAI signed an MoU with the Egyptian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in March 2007 for cooperation in the telecom regulatory environment. TCIL and the Egyptian Ministry of Communication & IT signed a MoU in December 2007 that relates to the implementation of the Pan African e-network project. The Executive Board of NASSCOM (India’s IT industry association) visited Cairo in December 2006. The delegation, which included senior executives of the leading Indian IT companies, was received by Prime Minister Nazif and Mr. Tarek Kamal.  I-Flex Solutions Ltd. has established its presence in Egypt and is implementing its core banking application –FLEXCUBE. A composite 30-member delegation including officials from the Egyptian Ministry of Communication and IT, representatives of the IT industry, and media persons visited India in February 2008 to attend the India Leadership Forum 2008 organised by NASSCOM in Mumbai. Satyam’s Global Solutions Centre (GSC) in Cairo was inaugurated by Dr. Tarek Kamel, Egypt’s Minister of Communications & IT on 5 March 2008. WIPRO is in the process of establishing a similar facility in Cairo.

Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme

17.     Over 175 Egyptian candidates have been to India under the ITEC programme since 1986. 14 Egyptian diplomats have also attended courses conducted by the Foreign Service Institute of India.

India-Egypt Cultural Relations

18.     The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture, which was set up in 1982, promotes cultural cooperation between the two countries.  The Centre is also responsible for implementation of the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP).  It is the only Indian cultural centre in the Arab region. Under the existing CEP, the Egypt’s Al Beheria Folk dance troupe participated in the 5th Sufi Dance Festival in Srinagar in July 2007 and also presented performances in New Delhi and Bhopal. Indian dance troupes visited Egypt in August and November 2007. An Egyptian Cultural Week was held in New Delhi in October 2007.  In February 2008, an Egyptian dance troupe visited Srinagar at the invitation of the Government of the state of Jammu & Kashmir. Three scholars from India also visited Egypt during 2007 under the Programme. The celebrated Indian author, Mr. Amitav Ghosh participated in the Annual Conference of the Arab Writers’ Union in Cairo in April 2008.

S&T and Agriculture

19.     ICAR and the Agricultural Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture & Land of Egypt signed a MoU for cooperation in the field of agricultural research in March 1998. An Agreement on cooperation in science and technology was signed in October 1995. Cooperation in agriculture and S&T is implemented through biennial Executive Programmes.

Indian Community/Tourists

20.     At present, the Indian community in Egypt comprises about 700 families, most of whom are concentrated in Cairo.  There are small numbers of families in Alexandria and Port Said.  The Indian community is a cohesive group, consisting largely of professionals.

21.     The third meeting of the Joint Working Group on Tourism Cooperation was held in New Delhi in April 2007. About 82,000 Indian tourists visited Egypt in 2007 as against 61, 000 in 2006. Indian passport holders visiting Egypt require a pre-arrival visa. (Requirements for foreigners visiting or staying in Egypt may be seen at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry website.) Egypt Air operates three flights a week on the Cairo-Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur sector. No Indian carrier is operating between destinations in Egypt and India.

May,  2008