Press Release No. 86

12 December 2006

Visit of H. E. Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt to India

15-17 December 2006

    H. E. Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, will pay an official visit to India on 15 - 17 December 2006 at the invitation of H. E. Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, India’s Minister of External Affairs. This will be the first visit by an Egyptian Foreign Minister to India since 1997. The Minister’s delegation will include senior officials from the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt and a number of leading Egyptian businessmen and industrialists.

2. The multi-dimensional character of relations between India and Egypt, co-founders of NAM, is underpinned by traditional relations of friendship and cooperation. During his visit, Foreign Minister Gheit is expected to have high level meetings and hold discussions with EAM.

3. Coinciding with the visit, the 5th Session of the Indo-Egypt Joint Commission will be held on 16 December 2006. Deliberations in the Joint Commission, co-chaired by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries, will focus, in particular, on the further strengthening of ongoing bilateral cooperation in the economic and commercial fields as well as in science and technology, culture, agriculture, IT, etc. The last session of the Commission was held in Cairo in February 2001.

4. Recently, on 19th November 2006, Egypt hosted the annual India-Egypt Foreign Office Consultations. The Egyptian Minister of Communications & IT, Dr. Tarek Kamel, and the Minister of State for Administrative Development, Dr. Ahmed Darwish, visited India on 27-30 November 2006 and 7-11 December 2006, respectively.

5. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will host a meeting of Indian and Egyptian businessmen on the margins of the Joint Commission session.
 

6. Indian investments in Egypt exceed US$ 400 million. GAIL, the Oberoi Group, the Aditya Birla Group, IFFCO, Kirloskar Brothers, etc. are already represented in Egypt. Several other Indian companies too are reportedly evaluating sizeable investment opportunities in Egypt. Inclusive of POL, the trade turnover between the two countries has increased from US$ 396.27 million in 2000-2001 to about US$ 1.2 billion in 2005-2006.
 

7. Tourism from India to Egypt has also been expanding steadily. Over 50,000 Indian tourists visited Egypt in 2005.

*****