Press Release No. 35
30 June 2008
Visit by His Excellency Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs of India, to Egypt (01 July – 03 July2008)
At the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, His Excellency Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of External Affairs of India, will be paying a visit to Egypt from 1 to 3 July 2008.
2. The last visit by an Indian Minister of External Affairs to Egypt was in February 2001.
3. The Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs had visited New Delhi in December 2006 when the 5th session of the India-Egypt Joint Commission was also held.
4. There have been regular exchanges of Ministerial and high-level visits between India and Egypt in the last two years. The Minister of Home Affairs of India visited Egypt in January 2008; India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Mr. Jairam Ramesh attended the Meeting of the World Economic Forum on the Middle East in Sharm-el Sheikh held in mid-May. Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation attended the India Africa Forum Summit in New Delhi in early April 2008. Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation both visited India in April 2008.
5. Economic and commercial relations between India and Egypt have been expanded significantly in recent years. India was Egypt’s fourth largest trade partner and the largest importer of Egyptian products last year. Bilateral trade amounted to US$ 2.356 billion, with Hydro-Carbon constituting the bulk of Indian imports from Egypt. Indian investments in Egypt, currently estimated at US$ 750 million, are expected to go up to US$ 2 billion by 2010.
6. The visit of Hon’ble Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is expected to reinforce and diversify the strong and deep-rooted bilateral ties between India and Egypt.
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