India, Egypt aim to boost ties in New Year after eventful 2016

India and Egypt had a fulfilling year in 2016 as the leadership of the two countries agreed to step up their defence and security cooperation to tackle the twin challenges of terrorism and radicalisation besides enhancing economic and people-to-people engagements.
This year also witnessed some of the high-level meetings between the two countries including the visit of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to India at the invitation of his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee in September to discuss ways to develop bilateral cooperation in different fields.
A series of decisions to combat terrorism were taken in wide-ranging talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and al-Sisi as the two countries have been engaged in staving off the threat of extremism and radicalism.

Identifying terrorism as one of the "gravest threats", they decided to have greater information and operational exchanges, apart from ramping up defence cooperation, signalling a major shift in ties. Both sides also inked a pact on maritime transport which will facilitate maritime commerce and transit of naval vessels.
India's Ambassador to Cairo Sanjay Bhattacharyya told PTI that his wishes for the coming year are to deepen and intensify the exchanges between India and Egypt in different fields and see the continuation of high-level engagements.
The ambassador also added that 2016 has witnessed a number of cooperation opportunities, which will be increased in the coming year.

One of the key cooperation moments in 2016 is that the Vocational Training Centre on Textiles in Shoubra El Kheima, Cairo, was formally inaugurated in August with the support of the Indian government.

The Vocational Centre is one of the largest training centres in Egypt offering several courses in printing, electrical, mechanical, energy, textile, upgraded to state-of- the-art technologies in the field of spinning, weaving, dyeing and printing.
In September, another key cooperation moment took place after the first Indian Chair in Egypt at the Ain Shams University was operationalised with the arrival of Indian professor Naidu Subbarao.
The Chair, which is at the Faculty of Information and Communication Technology, is not only the first Indian Chair in Egypt but also in the Arab world.

Next year will see more cooperation opportunities in different areas, the Ambassador said.
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"We already have an agenda which will take further. We will also have some more discussions on other transnational crimes issues to strengthen bilateral and regional cooperation, all this will provide us also, very potently, with closer cooperation and cooperation in the field of the fight against terrorism," Bhattacharyya said.
On the economy front, the ambassador said he is hoping that the trade situation will pick up.
"We are looking at the diversification of our trade basket so that we are not subject to the rises or fall in the prices of one commodity affecting our trade to such an extent," he explained.

He said the coming period will witness exchange of visits on the economic side between the two countries, which will lead to many new ventures.
"Both sides strongly committed to the international development efforts of each other," Bhattacharyya added.
On the culture field, he said the Embassy of India in Egypt currently is making plans for the India by the Nile (IBN) 2017.
"This year's festival is going to be a special edition because it coincides with India's 70th year of independence and it will be the fifth anniversary of IBN," the Ambassador said.
The mega festival will take place from early March to the end of April.

"It will be a much longer festival, with many more events, and hopefully we will be able to go out for more cities as well," he said, adding he also wishes to have a broader Tagore Festival this year.