India, Egypt discuss ways to expand cooperation

Making India his first stop in Asia after assuming charge, Egypt's Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy arrived here today and held talks with his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid during which they discussed ways to expand their cooperation on regional and international issues.
According to official sources, they also looked at the ways to sustain momentum of ties to proceed with setting up of a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology at the Al Azhar University in Cairo, which has got government's approval, Khurshid informed Fahmy.
The Centre which will be set up as project under the India-Africa Forum Summit was planned for completion in a year after the confirmation of infrastructure by the host institution, sources said, adding once completed it will be able to train 500 students annually.

"The focus of the two-hour long deliberations was to sustain the momentum in India-Egypt bilateral relations and to expand the interactions to wider areas of regional and international issues of interest," a source said.
The two leaders also reviewed the entire expanse of bilateral relations, the possibilities of more regular structured discussions on regional and international issues as well as security matters.
They exchanged views on the Middle East Peace Process and the situation in Syria. The Egyptian Foreign Minister also outlined the developments in Egypt and the roadmap ahead.

The two ministers also discussed various specific issues related to enhancing economic cooperation including the need to ease work permit regulations for professionals.

Currently bilateral trade between India and Egypt was USD 5.4 billion. India is the third largest destination of Egyptian exports of USD 2.6 billion and Egypt is the 11th largest destination of Indian exports of USD 2.9 billion.
The Egyptian Foreign Minister also called on the Vice President and met the National Security Adviser.