New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday welcomed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El–Sisi who will be the chief guest for this year’s Republic Day celebrations in the national capital. Addressing a joint session, the Prime Minister said, “India and Egypt are two of the oldest civilisations. There is a history of trade relations between our two countries. In the last few years, our bilateral ties have deepened. This year Egypt has been invited as a special guest at the upcoming G20 meeting.”
“India and Egypt are concerned about terrorism. Both countries agree that strong actions must be taken to control cross-border terrorism. During the Covid outbreak, we worked together to meet the requirements of both countries,” he added.
“There has been an increase in Jt exercise training & capacity building between us. We'll also cooperate on misuse of cyberspace that helps in spreading extremism and radicalisation. We also held discussions on the supply chain that was disrupted due to COVID & Ukraine crisis,” he said.
The PM said that both countries have decided to take their bilateral trade to US $12 billion in the next five years.
“We have decided to elevate our bilateral relations with Egypt to a strategic partnership. We've decided that under India-Egypt Strategic Partnership we will develop a long term framework for greater cooperation in the fields of politics, security, economics and science,” he added.
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Both the leaders witnessed the exchange of postal stamps between the two countries commemorating 75 years of diplomatic relations.
The two countries also signed Memorandum of Understanding in the fields of cyber security, culture, information technology, cooperation on youth matters and broadcasting.