Egypt and India were the two fountainheads of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM). That was the era of Nasser, Nehru and Tito. Today the NAM may have lost some of its sheen and relevance but India and Egypt continue to be friends. The Egyptian Foreign Minister had visited India in December 2006 during which five agreements were inked, including a Partnership Agreement, a MoU on bilateral air services, a work plan on agricultural cooperation, an executive programme on cultural exchanges and an executive programme on cooperation in the field of science and technology. In fiscal 2007, India was Egypt’s fourth largest trading partner behind the United States, Italy and Saudi Arabia, and the largest importer of Egyptian goods in 2006 and 2007. This was topped by Egypt President Hosni Mubarak’s visit this month after 25 years. Renu Malhotra spoke with the Egypt Ambassador to New Delhi, H.E. Dr Mohamed Abd El Hamid Higazy, on the visit and other issues.
Current: President Hosni Mubarak visited India after 25 years. Could you tell us about the significance of his four-day visit?
Higazy: The most important thing about President Hosni Mubarak’s visit to India is the distinct message to the developing and developed countries that South-South cooperation exists and Egypt and India are catalysts to promote its useful and vital cooperation in the region.
Relations between India and Egypt over the past two years have seen a quantum leap, wherein all aspects of bilateral relations have witnessed progress. Enough to say that 16 ministerial level meetings between the two countries have been held in the last 18 months and many strategic partnerships in varied areas have been forged. The balance of trade reached 3.8 billion US dollars in 2007 between the two countries. Indian investments in Egypt touched more than 2 billion US dollars in 2007. President Mubarak’s visit to India was to culminate this effort and further launch a strategic dialogue between our two countries to enhance cooperation in commercial and economic fields. Discussions on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are underway to give boost to economic relations. Exploration of space, science and technology, renewable energy and bio-technology are some of the significant areas for future cooperation between the two countries. President Mubarak has invited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to visit his country and also announced that Cairo will be hosting the 15th NAM summit next year.
What are the five treaties that have been signed on the economic and trade front between the two countries?
In an effort to give a strategic thrust to the ties between India and Egypt, co-founders of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), five accords were signed, including an extradition treaty. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding on abolishing visa requirements for holders of diplomatic, special and official passports from either country. Another MoU on enhancing cooperation in the fields of health and medicine was also signed. Considering India’s technological prowess, a crucial agreement on cooperation on the use of outer space and another MoU on trade and technical cooperation were also signed.
The world is facing one of its worst economic recession. How can we safeguard the global economy?
We believe that any crisis which affects all countries of the world should be dealt with through a multilateral approach. The present economic crisis is no exception. Role of groups like BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) towards managing the present economic recession hitting the global markets is very significant. Countries like Egypt with their regional influence should be taken into consideration. No single country or group should handle a crisis that affects a multitude of nations unilaterally. Only collective wisdom will help us move forward towards confronting and successfully managing challenges.
Do you see Obama as a saviour of the Arab world?
US-Arab relations are strategic, be it in partnerships or simply as respect to one another. We believe that the new US administration will engage and contribute immediately to bring meaningful peace to the region, particularly by solving the legitimate Palestinian cause in establishing a viable Palestinian state side by side with the state of Israel.
Terrorism is threatening world peace. What has been your county’s contribution towards tackling it?
Egypt along with the Arab world stands united with India in its fight against terrorism and we condemn all criminal acts of terror in the world. Joint cooperation to counter terrorism is a major facet of the bilateral relationship. India is playing a major role for peace in the region, and we in Egypt admire what India is doing. Diplomacy is our mission in life. War means destruction. We are developing mechanisms to seek diplomatic solutions to national and international problems.
India and Egypt have had a long history of good bilateral relations. What future does it have?
The two countries are in the process of reviving its bilateral relations. They have signed a partnership agreement for the road map to revive and enhance “excellent” level of relations between India and Egypt. With bilateral trade touching $2.17 billion last year, information technology, e-governance, science and technology and tourism are some of the thrust areas set to drive our ancient civilisational ties to new heights. When India excels in any area, it helps us. It is for our good.
Growth of tourism between the two countries is one of your major thrust areas. What are the major initiatives taken so far ?
Yes, we are focussing on boosting our tourism industry. We have a joint bilateral working group on tourism with India. We are also in the process of signing a MoU between the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), a very old school on antiquity preservation that conserves and protects monuments, transcripts and paintings.
We aim to have Indian and Egyptian experts exchange views on how best to preserve monuments and we can lend our knowledge on this.
There are about 11 Gulf and regional airlines which bring Indian tourists to Egypt every year. Egypt Air flies thrice a week directly from Cairo to Mumbai. We have an agreement with the civil aviation authorities to increase these flights to seven a week, and we plan to extend Egypt Air flights to Delhi, southern India, maybe Bangalore and east India soon.
You are seen as a dynamic diplomat, what are your focus areas?
My focus areas during my tenure as Egypt’s ambassador to India have been political coordination, regular consultations, enhancing strategic dialogues, exploring new areas of cooperation for mutual benefit and advancement of relations between the two nations.