By Manish Chand
New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS): India and Egypt are poised to upgrade their dialogue and sign six pacts in areas ranging from energy and technology to maritime transport and agriculture when External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna goes to Cairo next month.
Krishna will hold wide-ranging talks with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit, a meeting that seeks to impart a strategic dimension to the burgeoning bilateral ties.
"We are elevating it to a strategic dialogue which will encompass all existing dialogues at different levels under one umbrella and also add new areas of cooperation," Mohamed Higazy, the Egyptian ambassador to India, told IANS in an interview.
"We hope to give a fresh impetus in new areas like defence and security cooperation," said Higazy, who will shortly leave New Delhi for his new assignment as assistant minister for Asian affairs in Cairo.
"Six agreements/documents are ready to be signed. They include protocol on cultural and scientific education, protocol on scientific and technological cooperation, maritime transport, environment, renewable energy and agriculture," he said.
Krishna will also launch the North African hub of the e-learning centre of the Pan African e-network at Alexandria University.
The outgoing envoy is upbeat about the upward trajectory of India-Egypt ties, which he stresses has undergone visible transformation during his four-year ambassadorial tenure in New Delhi.
"There were 25 ministerial visits from both sides in the last four years. The high point was of course President Hosni Mubarak's state visit to India last year," he said.
"We hope the Indian prime minister will be able to visit soon."
Economically, the envoy stressed, there was huge untapped potential. "We hope to scale up bilateral trade from $3.5 billion to $5 billion."
Indian investments in Egypt are estimated to be around $2 billion in areas such as IT, petroleum, oil and gas. Top Indian companies like Essar, Reliance and Tata group are planning huge investments in Egypt.
All major Indian IT companies have set up base in Egypt, north Africa's economic powerhouse, and are looking for a further surge in days to come.
Placing relations between India and Egypt, the founders of the non-aligned movement, in a global perspective, the envoy said economic synergy and a congruence of interests were drawing the two countries closer.
"India and Egypt are playing an important role in respective regions and in the international arena," he said.
"There is tremendous scope for further cooperation in areas ranging from WTO negotiations, climate change, the G20 process and the UN reforms. The relationship can affect the global outcome on international issues."
The envoy lauded India's emergence on the global stage as an inspiration for the developing world.
"We are proud of the success of India in the economic arena. It's a success story for the entire humanity and a model for the developing world," said the envoy, who is fond of Indian food and Bollywood movies.
"If 1.2 billion people succeed, we are in a safe world. It's a market which will drive the global economic growth and will play a key role in bringing the world out of recession," he said. "The South can benefit enormously from the coming together of India and Egypt."