The results of the Indian prime minister's visit to Cairo
Egypt, Analysis, 10/15/1997

The visit of Indian Prime Minister Andrew Kumar Gogoral to Cairo represented the fourth summit between Cairo and New Delhi within the past two years which indicates the two sides' desire to strengthen their relations, relations that have played a very important role in the third world history and the Non-Alignment Movement in the past and in the new world order in the present time.

The issue of the Non-Alignment Movement and the necessity to reactivate it was the focus of the last meeting in Cairo. Increasing the number of the permanent members of the Security Council was one of the main points discussed by the two presidents, as Egypt gives this issue great importance. Egypt and India declared their support to the Declaration of the Non Alignment Movement which was issued in New Delhi last spring.

India resumed diplomatic relations with Israel in 1992. Cairo realizes that Israel tried to have special relations with India in the field of military production which culminated in signing a number of agreements during Israeli President Weizman's visit to India last year.

India is eager to maintain strong relations with Egypt in order to prove its commitment to the principles of the Non Alignment Movement and its support of Arab Rights in the Arab-Israeli struggle.

The economic factor has become very important in formulating the foreign policy of India. India considers Egypt its passage to the European markets while Egypt considers India its passage to the markets of the Far East. Thus the discussions dealt with increasing the volume of trade exchange between the two countries to $500 million as of the upcoming year. This volume was $160 million in 1992, and $330 million in 1997, $159 million of which was from Indian exports to Egypt and $72 million from Egyptian exports to India.

The discussion also dealt with joint investment as Indian investments in 32 Egyptian projects were $1.1 billion. The Indian Prime Minister described the agreements signed during his visit to Cairo as the beginning of a new era in the bilateral relations of the two countries. These agreements were in the field of customs, preventing tax duality, tourism and culture.

Finally, the high level of the visit and the numerous meetings and discussions that occurred during that visit show the political aspect of the visit which got much of the focus from the other economic aspect though the latter achieved great progress.

Previous Stories:
  Indian prime minister signs agreements with his Egyptian counterpart   (10/4/1997)
  Indian Prime Minister, Queen of the Netherlands in Cairo soon   (9/25/1997)
  Civil aviation cooperation between Egypt-India   (8/14/1997)

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