Modi meets Egypt's Sisi to deepen bilateral ties

India and Egypt on Sunday formally elevated their relationship to a strategic partnership, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi focused on bolstering cooperation in security, trade, investment and technology.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI: Modi, the first Indian Prime Minister to make a bilateral visit to Egypt in 26 years, and Sisi, who was chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January, signed an agreement to upgrade ties to a strategic partnership following their discussions at Ittihadia Palace in Cairo.

In a tweet, Modi described his talks with Sisi as “excellent” and said the two leaders reviewed the full range of bilateral relations and “agreed to further augment economic and cultural linkages”. A spokesman for the Egyptian president said the two leaders confirmed their mutual commitment to push relations to “broader horizons across various fields”.

The two sides signed three memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for cooperation in agriculture, archaeology and antiquities, and competition law. Sisi conferred the Order of the Nile, Egypt’s highest state honour, on Modi at a brief ceremony. Among others who have received this award are former South African president Nelson Mandela and former US president Jimmy Carter. Modi thanked the government and people of Egypt for the honour and tweeted. “It indicates the warmth and affection they have towards India and the people of our nation.”

Modi arrived in Cairo on Saturday after a visit to the US and held talks with his Egyptian counterpart Mostafa Madbouly and the “India Unit”, a special group created within the Egyptian cabinet by Sisi, that focused on taking forward cooperation in renewable energy, information and communication technology (ICT), health, agriculture and infrastructure.