India-Egypt relations
India
and Egypt
are two of the world's ancient civilizations with a history of close contact. India and Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally close
relationship during the Nehru-Nasser era, and signed a Friendship Treaty in
1955. The birth of the Non-Aligned Movement was, inter alia, the outcome of this
relationship. Since the 1980s, there have been four Prime Ministerial visits
from India to Egypt: Shri
Rajiv Gandhi (1985); Shri P. V. Narasimha Rao (1995); Shri I. K. Gujral (1997);
and Dr Manmohan Singh (2009). Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh participated in
the XV NAM Summit held in Sharm EI-Sheikh in July 2009.
From the Egyptian side, President Mubarak visited India in 1982, in 1983 to
attend the NAM Summit and in November 2008 on a bilateral visit, during which
the following documents were signed: Extradition Treaty, Agreement on abolition
of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic, special and official/service
passports, MoU on Cooperation in the field of Health & Medicine, MoU on
Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes, MoU
on Trade & Technical Cooperation. High level exchanges with Egypt continue after the Egyptian Revolution; since March
2011 three Ministerial visits have been exchanged with Egypt.
Previous important Bilateral Treaties and Agreements include Agreement on
Cultural, Education and Scientific Co-operation (1958), Agreement on Technical &
Scientific Co-operation (1969), Agreement on Avoidance of Double Taxation
(1969), Agreement on the establishment of the Joint Commission (1983), Agreement
on Combating Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances,
Agreement on combating international terrorism and trans-national and organized
Crime, Agreement on co-operation in the field of Information Technology (1995),
Air Services Agreement, Agreement for the Promotion & Reciprocal Protection of
investments, Agreement on Customs Cooperation, and Agreement on Tourism
Cooperation (1997), MoU on Trade Promotion (1998), and The Partnership Agreement
(2006). An MoU on Renewable Energy Cooperation was signed in January 2011.
Since 2006, several high-level visits have been exchanged between India and Egypt. From the Egyptian side: Minister of
State for Military Production, Minister of Communications and IT, Minister of State for Administrative Development,
and the Foreign Minister (2006); the Minister of Social Solidarity and Minister of Tourism(2007); Minister
of Trade & Industry, Minister of Agriculture & Land Reclamation, and Minister
for International Cooperation (2008), a delegation from the High Election
Commission, Minister Trade & Industry to participate in the WTO Ministerial
Meeting and Minister of Electricity & Energy (2009); and Foreign Minister
(2011). From the Indian side: Minister of State for Industry and Minister of
State for Human Resource and Development (2006); Minister of Petroleum & Natural
Gas and Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment (2007); Minister of Home
Affairs, Minister of Textiles, Minister of State for Commerce and Power, and EAM
(2008); Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Commerce & Industry Minister to
participate in the Informal African WTO Trade Ministerial Brainstorming Session
(2009); Minister of State for
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and a Goodwill Delegation of
Parliamentarians led by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Water Resources
(2010); and Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Minister of State for
External Affairs, Chief Election Commissioner accompanied by Election Commission
officials, Minister of State Road Transport & Highways as Prime Minister’s
Special Envoy for IAFS invitation (2011). Dialogue with
Egypt
has also been maintained through meetings of the Joint Commission (in 1985,
1988, 1997, 2001 and 2006) and Foreign Office Consultations (in 1999, 2000,
2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 and August 2010)
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 has grown significantly in past five years. Since FY 2005-06, India has been among the top five importers
of Egyptian products. This is mainly on account of import of oil and gas from
Egypt. The trade balance used to in
Egypt’s favor earlier, but now it is evenly balanced with
nominal surplus in favour of India. Exports from
India to Egypt increased from USD
1.26 billion in FY 2007-2008 to USD 1.29 billion in FY 2008-09 and further to
USD 1.46 billion in FY 2009-10. Indian imports from Egypt fell from USD 2.16
billion in FY 2007-08 to USD 1.17 billion in FY 2008-09 and thereafter increased
to USD 1.43 billion in FY 2009-10. The total trade declined from USD 3.42
billion in FY 2007-08 to USD 2.46 billion in FY 2008-09 and then increased to
USD 2.89 billion in FY 2009-10. From July 2010 - February 2011, India’s exports to Egypt
were USD 975 million and India’s
imports from Egypt
were USD 787 million. The top five Indian exports in FY 2009-10 were Light oil &
preparations, Boneless frozen Meat, Cotton Yarn, Other synthetic filament yarn
and Chemical vapor deposition apparatus for semiconductor production, while the
top five Indian imports were Crude Petroleum, Coke and Semi-Coke, Other cotton,
LNG and Natural calcium phosphates.
The Bilateral Investment Protection Agreement between
India
and Egypt
entered into force in November 2000. India has a total investment of
approximately USD 2.5 billion in about 45 projects. In 2007,
India, along with China
and Turkey, was identified by the Egyptian government as a
key target country for attracting investments into Egypt. Egyptian
investment in India
is about USD 30 million. El Sewedy group, an Egyptian company, manufactures
Electric meters in India.
Another Egyptian company, Orascom Telecom, used to have 10% stake in the then
Hutchinson-Essar which has since been bought by Vodafone.
Alexandria Carbon Black, the Alexandria Fibre Co., Dabur
India's production facility for its cosmetics line,
Niletex, Auto Tech Engineering, Marico's acquisition of two hair care brands and
the Sanmar Group's acquisition of a unit of Trust Chemicals of Egypt represent
some of the main Indian investments in
Egypt. 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 and reported a second
discovery in November 2008, though these deposits were later found to be
commercially unviable. In March 2008, Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd
(GSPC) signed a Concession Agreement for two oil and gas exploration blocks in Egypt. [The two
exploration blocks are North Hap’y and South Diyur. N. Hap’y is an offshore block
located in the Mediterranean Sea and S. Diyur is an onshore block located in the
Western
Desert.]
GSPC subsequently acquired three more exploration blocks in the Red Sea
region in 2010. Satyam Computers and WIPRO have set up global delivery centers
in Cairo.
The Oberoi Group has been managing a hotel and Nile cruises; Kirloskar Brothers
assemble diesel engines and irrigation pump sets in
Egypt; Ranbaxy has an Egyptian subsidiary for manufacturing
pharmaceutical formulations; Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki and
Mahindra & Mahindra are marketing their vehicles in
Egypt, and Bajaj Auto dominated the
three-wheelers market.
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. Since the year
2000 a total of 190 Egyptian candidates have visited India
under the ITEC Programme. In FY 2010-11, 72 candidates went to India
for training (out of this 48 were under ITEC, 24 under IAFS, Capacity building
and AARDO programmes). For FY 2011-12, ITEC allocation for Egypt has been increased
from 50 to 70; 15 additional slots under IAFS have been allotted. 15 Egyptian
diplomats have also attended courses conducted by the Foreign Service Institute
of India. The Pan African E-Network Project in Egypt
was inaugurated on 16 August 2010. Under the implementation of the Pan African
E-Network Project, an e-learning Centre at
Alexandria University
was commissioned in July, 2009. The Telemedicine Centre, under the same project,
at
Regional Centre for Women's Health
and Development in Alexandria
has also been commissioned.
The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture in
Cairo
was set up in 1992 to promote cultural cooperation between the two countries and
is also responsible for implementation of the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP).
An Egyptian Cultural Week was held in New Delhi in October 2007. The reciprocal "Days of
Indian Culture" was held in Egypt in November, 2008. India was the Guest
Country of Honour at the Cairo International Film Festival (ClFF) in November
2009. Indian Cultural Week was organized in Egypt in September-October 2010 by holding
performance of ICCR troupes in 4 different Egyptian cities. Coinciding with
this, Indian Film Week was organized.
Three streets in Cairo
are named after Indian leaders namely, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Dr.
Zakir Hussein. State Bank of India
has a representative office in Cairo.
Egypt Air operates three flights a week on the Cairo-Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur sector.
No Indian carrier is operating between Egypt
and India.
At present, the Indian community in Egypt
numbers about 3000, most of whom are concentrated in
Cairo. There are small numbers of families in
Alexandria and Port Said. The Indian Community Association of Egypt
(ICAE) coordinates activities of the Indian Diaspora. More than 90,000 Indian
tourists visited Egypt
in 2009.
21 July 2011