Sushma Swaraj to visit Egypt next week

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will embark on a two-day visit to Egypt beginning Monday which is expected to help bilateral ties gain traction.

During her visit, she will call on President of Egypt Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, hold bilateral talks with her counterpart Sameh Hassan Shoukry and meet Nabil ElAraby, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, besides other leaders.

Swaraj, in her first visit to the country as External Affairs Minister, is also scheduled to deliver a public address at the prestigious Diplomatic Club in Cairo to be hosted by the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.

"The Minister's visit to Cairo will provide an opportunity to review the entire gamut of our bilateral and multilateral relations and to exchange views with the Egyptian leadership covering whole range of issues of mutual interest," the External Affairs Ministry said.

Egypt has traditionally been one of India's most important trading partners in the African continent.

The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Egypt in 2009 while the then President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi had visited India in March 2013 during which six MoUs to expand ties in a range of areas including IT, cyber security, micro and small enterprises and solar energy were signed.

Trade between India and Egypt during the last financial year (April 2014 - March 2015) has been recorded at $4.76 billion. Most importantly, India is the sixth largest trading partner of Egypt - the second largest export destination.

India's imports from Egypt were worth $1.74 billion during 2014-15. There has been diversification in the export basket of Egyptian products to India.

Indian exports to Egypt during 2014-15 have been recorded at $3.02 billion.

Out of the 50 Indian companies operating in Egypt with a combined investment of almost $3 billion, approximately half are joint ventures and wholly owned Indian subsidiaries.