news.outlookindia.com | Krishna to Go on a 3-Day Visit to Egypt
A number of agreements are likley to be inked during the visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Egypt beginning Friday, the first high-level Indian visit to the North African country after the popular uprising.
During the three-day visit, which is aimed at enhancing economic and trade ties besides engaging with the new leadership, Krishna will co-chair the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr on Sunday.
The Joint Commission Meeting will undertake a comprehensive review of India-Egypt cooperation in the areas of Trade and Economy, Science and Technology, Culture and Information Technology, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The delegation to the Joint Commission includes officials from a number of ministries and departments keeping in view India's multi-faceted cooperation with Egypt and a number of agreements are likely to be signed during the visit, it said in a relased.
Krishna is scheduled to call on Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Chief of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces of Egypt apart from meeting Nabil El Araby, Secretary General, League of Arab States.
He will interact with the leadership of major Egyptian political parties, opinion makers and Indian community representatives.
He will also unveil a portrait of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in Cairo, as part of Tagores 150th birth anniversary celebrations.
---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------
Krishna to visit Egypt for review of bilateral cooperation - Home - livemint.com
Indian foreign minister S.M. Krishna is to travel to Egypt this week, making him the first high-profile visitor from India after last January’s Arab Spring revolution in the North African country that toppled the Hosni Mubarak regime.
Krishna will co-chair the sixth meeting of a joint commission with the foreign minister of Egypt during the 2-4 March visit, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The joint commission meeting will undertake a comprehensive review of India-Egypt cooperation” in the areas of trade, economy, science, information technology (IT) and culture, it said, adding that Krishna’s delegation will include officials from the relevant ministries and departments and that “a number of agreements are likely to be signed during the visit”.
“This is a significant visit because interaction between India and Egypt at the political level is important. India-Egypt ties have been dormant for a while and Egypt has its own weight in the region,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, a former head of the National Maritime Foundation think tank.
During his stay, Krishna will hold talks with his counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr, with a focus on expanding bilateral trade and investment, and building ties with the transitional military-dominated Egyptian government and other major stakeholders in the evolving power structure in the country.
According to the Indian statement, Krishna is expected to meet Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chief of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces of Egypt, and Nabil El Araby, secretary general, League of Arab States, besides holding talks with the leadership of major Egyptian political parties.
Egypt’s previously banned Muslim Brotherhood won the first election in the post-Mubarak era by a comfortable margin and has a sizeable representation in the upper and lower houses of the Egyptian parliament.
Post-revolution Egypt is keen on building stronger relations, with Al Araby having visited India in May last year when he was Egypt’s foreign minister. With 65% of Egypt’s 85 million population below age 25, the envoy sought wider people-to-people ties between the two countries.
India and Egypt were among the co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement and have enjoyed close ties. Bilateral trade is estimated to be $3.2 billion. Indian investments in Egypt are estimated to be around $2 billion in areas such as IT, petroleum, and oil and gas.
With West Asia still in turmoil from the aftershocks of the Arab Spring that saw the toppling of authoritarian regimes in the region since last January, Krishna is expected to discuss the situation in Syria, where protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad have claimed 7,500 lives, according to United Nations (UN) estimates.
India and Egypt voted for a UN resolution condemning the crackdown on civilian protesters by the al-Assad government.
“It is clear that the transition to democracy has not gone along expected lines,” said Bhaskar. “India will be trying to get a sense from Egypt about the changes happening in the region.”
A number of agreements are likley to be inked during the visit of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to Egypt beginning Friday, the first high-level Indian visit to the North African country after the popular uprising.
During the three-day visit, which is aimed at enhancing economic and trade ties besides engaging with the new leadership, Krishna will co-chair the 6th Meeting of the Joint Commission with his Egyptian counterpart Mohamed Kamel Amr on Sunday.
The Joint Commission Meeting will undertake a comprehensive review of India-Egypt cooperation in the areas of Trade and Economy, Science and Technology, Culture and Information Technology, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
The delegation to the Joint Commission includes officials from a number of ministries and departments keeping in view India's multi-faceted cooperation with Egypt and a number of agreements are likely to be signed during the visit, it said in a relased.
Krishna is scheduled to call on Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the Chief of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces of Egypt apart from meeting Nabil El Araby, Secretary General, League of Arab States.
He will interact with the leadership of major Egyptian political parties, opinion makers and Indian community representatives.
He will also unveil a portrait of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore in Cairo, as part of Tagores 150th birth anniversary celebrations.
---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:03 PM ----------
Krishna to visit Egypt for review of bilateral cooperation - Home - livemint.com
Indian foreign minister S.M. Krishna is to travel to Egypt this week, making him the first high-profile visitor from India after last January’s Arab Spring revolution in the North African country that toppled the Hosni Mubarak regime.
Krishna will co-chair the sixth meeting of a joint commission with the foreign minister of Egypt during the 2-4 March visit, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“The joint commission meeting will undertake a comprehensive review of India-Egypt cooperation” in the areas of trade, economy, science, information technology (IT) and culture, it said, adding that Krishna’s delegation will include officials from the relevant ministries and departments and that “a number of agreements are likely to be signed during the visit”.
“This is a significant visit because interaction between India and Egypt at the political level is important. India-Egypt ties have been dormant for a while and Egypt has its own weight in the region,” said C. Uday Bhaskar, a former head of the National Maritime Foundation think tank.
During his stay, Krishna will hold talks with his counterpart, Mohamed Kamel Amr, with a focus on expanding bilateral trade and investment, and building ties with the transitional military-dominated Egyptian government and other major stakeholders in the evolving power structure in the country.
According to the Indian statement, Krishna is expected to meet Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the chief of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces of Egypt, and Nabil El Araby, secretary general, League of Arab States, besides holding talks with the leadership of major Egyptian political parties.
Egypt’s previously banned Muslim Brotherhood won the first election in the post-Mubarak era by a comfortable margin and has a sizeable representation in the upper and lower houses of the Egyptian parliament.
Post-revolution Egypt is keen on building stronger relations, with Al Araby having visited India in May last year when he was Egypt’s foreign minister. With 65% of Egypt’s 85 million population below age 25, the envoy sought wider people-to-people ties between the two countries.
India and Egypt were among the co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement and have enjoyed close ties. Bilateral trade is estimated to be $3.2 billion. Indian investments in Egypt are estimated to be around $2 billion in areas such as IT, petroleum, and oil and gas.
With West Asia still in turmoil from the aftershocks of the Arab Spring that saw the toppling of authoritarian regimes in the region since last January, Krishna is expected to discuss the situation in Syria, where protests against the regime of Bashar al-Assad have claimed 7,500 lives, according to United Nations (UN) estimates.
India and Egypt voted for a UN resolution condemning the crackdown on civilian protesters by the al-Assad government.
“It is clear that the transition to democracy has not gone along expected lines,” said Bhaskar. “India will be trying to get a sense from Egypt about the changes happening in the region.”
