There is potential for trade enhancement with Egypt as India has competencies that Egypt wants, for example in information technology, cyber security, industrial goods, car manufacturing, automobile parts, and light engineering goods said, Former Deputy National security Adviser Pankaj Saran.
Saran who currently serves as Convenor of NatStrat, Centre for Research on Strategic and Security Issues said that this depends on how fast the Egyptian economy grows.
“Egypt is very keen to import wheat from India. There are a lot of Indian investments in Egypt. We can use Egypt as a gateway to the rest of the region including to northern Africa, Europe, and the Arab world,” he advised on his fortnightly show on Awaz-the Voice.
He was speaking on the renewed efforts to bring the two countries together with the ongoing visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah-El-Sisi to India. Saran, who spent three years in Egypt as a young diplomat, knows the country well and says Egyptians and Indians share a similar sense of humour.
He said the relations between the two countries were not so warm for a long time because of internal instability in Egypt. He said that President Mubarak, who ruled the country for 30 years, was “focused on fighting terrorism, fundamentalism, and extremism”.
So, they did not have time for India or the rest of Asia. They had an extremely close relationship with the United States, Europe, and in particular France.
He pointed out that of late, Egypt seems to have decided to look eastward, more towards Asia, to China a little bit, and Russia and their outreach to India seems to be part of this decision to diversify their geopolitical options.
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