Key accords signed with Egypt

New Delhi: India and Egypt, co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), on Tuesday decided to give a strategic thrust to their ties by signing five accords, including an extradition treaty, and agreed to push for reform of the global economic system.

Considering India's technological prowess, the two countries signed a crucial agreement on cooperation on the uses of outer space - a key step towards transforming ties that had languished due to Cold War politics in the 1980s.

They also agreed to establish a strategic dialogue at the level of foreign ministers and jointly fight terrorism.

The decision "reflects our desire to upgrade our relations", the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, said after talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at a joint press conference here.

Manmohan Singh and Mubarak held "productive and fruitful" talks on a wide range of issues, including the intensification of economic and strategic ties, terrorism, food and energy security, the global financial crisis and the peace process in the Middle East.

"The visit has opened a new chapter in our relations. We have both agreed that all conditions are ripe for transforming relations to correspond to contemporary realities," Manmohan Singh underlined while lauding the Egyptian leader as "a great statesman and a highly respected world leader".

"We have agreed to make up for lost time, and to elevate our relations to a level that reflects our mutual strengths and complementarities," the prime minister stressed.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on abolishing visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, special and official passports from either country. Another MOU on enhancing cooperation in health and medicine was also inked.

Closer ties

India's External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, and his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmad Aboul Gaith, signed these agreements in the presence of Manmohan Singh and Mubarak. The Egyptian President, who has ruled Egypt for nearly three decades, is visiting New Delhi after a quarter century to lay "a sound basis for a vibrant strategic partnership" with India.

The visiting Egyptian leader, who arrived here on Sunday on a four-day visit, was accorded a ceremonial welcome in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan (presidential palace) yesterday.

Mubarak invited Manmohan Singh to visit Egypt and announced that Cairo would be hosting the 15th NAM summit next year.