New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to Egypt was aimed at strengthening historical ties between the two countries as they share ancient civilizational links in terms of trade, culture and people-to-people contact.
Egypt is an important player in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with a growing economy coupled with enough natural resources such as hydrocarbon and coal reserves at its disposal that are required by a fast-growing major economy such as India. With a population of over 100 million, Egypt is the 14th largest country in the world in terms of population and with an area of over 10 lakh square kilometres, this is the 29th largest country in the world, making it one of the most important players in the middle-east and north-Africa region, alongside Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran.
Why is Egypt important to India?
Egypt is not only rich in terms of natural resources, including hydrocarbons and coals, but it also offers a huge market to the country as its gross domestic product has been estimated at $1.8 trillion, the 18th largest economy in the world with a per capita income of over $16,000 per year.
According to officials, Egypt has been one of India’s most important trading partners in the middle east and African region as both countries operationalised a bilateral trade agreement since March 1978 which is based on the most favoured nation clause. According to latest trade data, India was the 5th largest trading partner of the country from April to December 2022 when it was the 11th largest importer of Egypt and 5th largest exporter of the country.
India-Egypt bilateral trade
India-Egypt bilateral trade reached an important milestone of over $5.45 billion for the first time in FY 2012-13. However, both the could not maintain the momentum thereafter due to a variety of factors and the bilateral trade declined to $4.95 billion in FY 2013-14 and then to $4.77 billion in FY 2014-15 and slipped to a low of $3.23 billion in FY 2016-17 due to falling crude oil prices and general economic slowdown in the region.
However, in the last five-six years, the bilateral trade between the countries has picked up again and again, reaching in the range of $4 billion to $4.5 billion during FY 2018-19 to FY 2020-21 period. In a major jump, the bilateral trade between the countries topped to over $7 billion in FY 2021-22 $3.744 Billion Indian Exports and $3.521 Indian Imports.
In the first 10 months of the last financial year, the bilateral trade between the countries was in excess of $5 billion with Indian exports being on the higher side.
India’s push for boosting trade relations
No later than Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed in Egypt on Saturday, the first meeting he attended was with the India Unit of the Egypt government which was set up by the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to boost bilateral relations. The India Unit is headed by Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Prime Minister Modi appreciated the whole of the government approach as it will help reenergize the millennia-old relations between the two civilizations.
Both India and Egypt discussed ways to strengthen cooperation in areas like trade and investment, renewable energy, green hydrogen, IT, digital payment platforms, pharma and people-to-people ties.
During the Egypt visit, Prime Minister Modi also held a meeting with Hassan Allam, CEO of Hassan Allam Holding Company, one of the largest Egyptian companies in the MENA region. He also held discussions with Tarek Heggy, renowned Egyptian author and petroleum strategist in Cairo as they discussed geo-politics and energy security.
Also read: PM Narendra Modi meets Egyptian President El-Sisi; receives Egypt's highest state honour
