Fifth Indo-Egyptian Jt Com meeting to be held on Dec 16

New Delhi, Dec 14 (UNI) Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit will arrive here tomorrow on a three-day official visit to India during which he will co-Chair the Fifth Session of the Indo-Egypt Joint Commission alongwith External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

The Joint Session of the Commission, which will be held on December 16, will focus on further strengthening of ongoing bilateral cooperation in economic and commercial fields as well as science and technology, culture, agriculture, IT, among others.

The last session of the Commission was held in Cairo in February 2001.

The two countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in the field of Information Technology and Communication sectors last month.

The visit, at the invitation of Mr Mukherjee, will be the first visit by an Egyptian Foreign Minister to India since 1997.

The multi-dimensional character of relations between India and Egypt, co-founders of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM), is underpinned by traditional relations of friendship and cooperation.

During the visit, the Egyptian Foreign Minister will have discussions with the External Affairs Minister.

On November 19, Egypt hosted the annual India-Egypt Foreign Office Consultations. Egyptian Minister of Communications and IT, Dr Tarek Kamel, and Minister of State for Administrative Development, Dr Ahmed Darwish, visited India on November 27-30 and December 7-11 respectively.

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) will host a meeting of Indian and Egyptian businessmen on the margins of the Joint Commission Session.

Indian investments in Egypt exceed 400 million US dollars. GAIL, the Oberoi Group, the Aditya Birla Group, IFFCO, Kirloskar Brothers, etc are already represented in Egypt. Several other Indian companies are also reportedly evaluating sizeable investment opportunities in Egypt.

Trade turnover between the two countries has increased from 396.27 million US dollars in 2000-2001 to about 1.2 billion dollars in 2005-2006.

Tourism from India to Egypt has also been expanding steadily.

Over 50,000 Indian tourists visited Egypt in 2005.

UNI RB VD RN1758