India and Egypt on Sunday signed an agreement on a strategic partnership as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo. The Government of Egypt bestowed the highest honour of the land — the Order of the Nile — on the visiting Indian leader and Mr. Modi described his first state visit to Egypt as “historic”.
“The four agreements that were signed during the visit (June 24-25) of the honourable Prime Minister — first, the most important, and a landmark development in the history of [the] bilateral relationship was the signature on the strategic partnership between India and Egypt. It was signed by the Honourable Prime Minister Modi and the Honourable President El Sisi of Egypt,” Foreign Secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra announced.
He said the green and renewable collaboration will be an important part of future partnership with Egypt because of the importance that the two sides attach to clean energy.
Three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of agriculture, archaeology and antiquities, and competition law were also signed, the Ministry of External Affairs said. The two sides discussed multilateral cooperation at the G-20 and other topics like food, energy security and climate change.
Earlier on Sunday, in a special gesture from President Sisi, Prime Minister Modi received the Order of the Nile, the topmost state honour of Egypt. Among the past recipients of this honour were the late Sultan Qaboos (the ruler of Oman), Nelson Mandela and the late President of Indonesia Suharto.
“It is with great humility that I accept the ‘Order of the Nile’. I thank the Government and people of Egypt for this honour. It indicates the warmth and affection they have towards India and the people of our nation,” Prime Minister Modi said after receiving the honour.
During the official discussion held at the Al-Ittihadiya Palace of Cairo, the two leaders noted that the newly formed ‘India Unit’ in the Egyptian Cabinet will be a “useful tool in steering bilateral collaborations”, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Mr. Modi and Mr. Sisi had a “one to one” conversation, Mr. Kwatra added.
The Prime Minister visited the Heliopolis Commonwealth War Grave Cemetery which paid homage to over 4,300 Indian soldiers who had perished in Egypt and Aden during World War I.
He met members of the Indian community as scheduled and visited the Al Hakim mosque.
Earlier on Saturday, he met Tarek Heggy, the renowned Egyptian author and petroleum strategist. The Ministry of External Affairs said the two discussed several issues like “radicalism and gender equality” among others. The objective of the meetings between Mr. Modi and prominent Egyptians was to ensure a “more vibrant people-to-people exchanges between India and Egypt”, Mr. Kwatra said during a special briefing before the PM left for Delhi.
Egypt is a “guest country” at the upcoming G-20 summit to be held in September here and Mr. Sisi is expected to visit then.
