Al Akhbar, p.24, (11/11/2008)
The visit of Mubarak to India and heading East
By: Galal Dewidar
I was very happy when I read the statement of Mr. Abul Gheit, the Egyptian Foreign Minister, in the Egyptian papers in which he declared that President Mubarak will visit India during this month. This visit comes upon an invitation from the President of India. The invitation to visit India was extended several times to President Mubarak but there was no chance to perform it. In spite of the fact that some Egyptian ministers have already paid several visits to India, it is expected that the visit of President Mubarak, which is welcomed on all levels, will lead to large prospects of cooperation between the two countries.
The current conditions are suitable for developing the historical ties between the two countries which have witnessed frigidity since the 1979 during the reign of President Sadat. This resulted from the negative Indian stance in the NAM summit held in Havana in which Arab countries tried to freeze Egypt's membership due to its signing of Camp David Peace Accord. However, the attempt failed due to the support of African countries to Egypt.
Analysts agree that any move aiming at organizing economic, commercial and technological cooperation between Egypt and India will be beneficial for both countries. This cooperation will be supported by singing 6 agreements between the two countries. Setting the foundations of this cooperation comes at a time when India started to occupy a leading role on the global economic map. This is confirmed by the growth rate it managed to achieve recently as well as its technological and industrial progress.
According to what the former Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told me when I met him for an interview in New Delhi in 2003, various Indian institutions are ready to cooperate in all fields. During that visit, a number of Indian ministers also expressed their astonishment that the Egyptian Minster of Telecommunications had not visited India in spite of the repeated invitations extended to him at that time to sign a number of cooperation agreements in the field of telecommunications technology. Minister Tarek Kamel accepted the invitation and visited India last year and said that it was a very successful visit and that there are lots of prospects for establishing joint ventures.
Indian telecommunications experts say that joint ventures in this field could include Arabic computer software to be marketed in the Arab region. On the other hand, there are prospects of cooperation in some industries in which India excelled like vehicle manufacturing and assemblage.
The imminent visit of President Mubarak to India will encourage Indian investors to expand their investments in Egypt. Indian investments have recently been put in several industries in Egypt. It is predicted that the President will be accompanied by a number of Egyptian businessmen who had economic and commercial ties with India. This will open new horizons for cooperation between the two countries. Observers say that the visit of President Mubarak to India comes within the framework of the Egyptian strategy aiming at establishing economic ties with Asian and African countries and not to confine them to western countries.
It is also predicted that the visit will renovate the NAM and will contribute to creating closer ties between developing countries to be able to maintain their interests and to play an effective role in the new economic world order.
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