India-Egypt trade stands at $4.76b

CAIRO: India is the sixth largest trading partner of Egypt — the second largest export destination. Trade between India and Egypt during the last financial year (April 2014 — March 2015) has been recorded at $4.76 billion (Dh17.47 billion).

India’s imports from Egypt were worth $1.74 billion during 2014-15. There has been diversification in the export basket of Egyptian products to India. Indian exports to Egypt during 2014-15 have been recorded at $3.02 billion.

“We believe that as Egypt expands its economy and increases its engagement in the region, Africa and Europe, India can be strong part in that,” an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.

In addition to politics and economy, there are certain specific areas that both countries would like to have closer cooperation in, including the fields of energy and medicine, he said.

“In energy, we believe that we have good renewable energy technology. Some of our companies are working here. Another area in which we begin to have close cooperation is in pharmaceuticals,” the ambassador said.

“We believe that India can provide the world affordable and reliable medicines, which will be a benefit the problems of health that we have,” he added.

“We also have a very strong base in small and medium enterprises. Our companies are very eager to come and work here,” the ambassador said.

“At the same time, there are ongoing projects that Indian started implementing in Egypt. At the moment we are working on a solar energy projects. We are also working on a Pan-African telemedicine and tele-education projects in conjunction with the University of Alexandria,” he added.

“We are going to establish a vocational training centre in Cairo for textiles. A very exciting project is that we are going to establish an IT Centre of Excellence at Al Azhar University. There will be many other projects of course,” the ambassador said.