CAIRO (Arrahmah.id) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed a strategic partnership agreement on Sunday (26/6/2023), underlining the closer ties between the two countries which experts say could have a geopolitical and economic importance.

Modi arrived in Cairo on Saturday afternoon after a four-day trip to the United States, marking the first state visit to Egypt by an Indian prime minister since 1997.

He received Egypt’s highest civilian honour, known as the Order of the Nile, on a trip that comes less than six months after Sisi’s visit to India earlier this year, when the two leaders announced to the first time their intention to strengthen their partnership.

“An agreement to elevate the bilateral relationship to a ‘strategic partnership’ has been signed by the leaders,” Arindam Bagchi, spokesman for India’s External Affairs Ministry, said in a tweet on Sunday, as noted. Arab News (6/26).

“The leaders discussed ways to deepen the partnership between the two countries, including in the areas of trade and investment, defense and security, renewable energy, culture and people-to-people ties.”

Bagchi said their meeting was “productive”, with India and Egypt also signing three other MoUs in the fields of agriculture, archeology and antiquities, and competition law.

Modi also visited the historic Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, which was recently renovated with the help of the Dawoodi Bohra Indian community, and met Grand Mufti Shawki Allam, an expert in Egyptian Islamic law.

In January, Modi and Al-Sisi agreed to increase bilateral trade to $12 billion over the next five years from $7.3 billion in 2021-22.

The two countries signed several agreements in New Delhi to expand their cooperation in the areas of cybersecurity, information technology, culture and broadcasting.

Navdeep Suri, India’s former ambassador to Egypt, said India and Egypt parted ways ahead of this year’s engagement.

“After letting this relationship drift for so many years, she’s back on track,” Suri said. Arab News.

According to Suri, India gained momentum by inviting al-Sisi as the main guest during India’s Republic Day in January and making Egypt one of the special guests for the meeting of this year from the Group of 20 largest economies under the Delhi presidency, which he said sent “a strong signal.” .” (haninmazaya/arrahmah.id)