India and Egypt on Wednesday elevated their ties to a strategic partnership as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi unveiled plans to spice up cooperation in defence and counterterrorism, and to virtually double bilateral commerce to $12 billion in 5 years.

Sisi is on a three-day go to to the nation and would be the first Egyptian chief to be the chief visitor at India’s Republic Day celebrations on January 26. He held wide-ranging talks with Modi geared toward revitalising bilateral relations, with safety and financial cooperation rising as key pillars.

The Ukraine battle’s impression on growing nations, particularly the rising prices of meals, gas and fertilisers, figured within the discussions, and the 2 leaders agreed to construct dependable provide chains for these commodities, together with by means of government-to-government partnerships.

“Strategic cooperation between the two countries will help in promoting peace and prosperity in the entire region… President Sisi and I decided to elevate our bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership,” Modi stated at a joint media interplay with Sisi. The two sides will develop a long-term framework for better cooperation within the political, safety, financial and scientific fields, he stated.

Sisi stated rising defence cooperation is the perfect proof of the will on each side to have a strategic relationship. This shall be executed by means of joint army workouts, sharing of experiences and discovering new areas of cooperation, he added.

Modi pointed to a big enhance in joint workouts and stated: “We have decided in today’s meeting to further strengthen cooperation between our defence industries, and enhance the exchange of information and intelligence related to counterterrorism.”

Both leaders strongly denounced terror and known as for concerted international motion to deal with it. Modi stated India and Egypt are “worried about the spread of terrorism” around the globe and consider terror is the “most serious security threat to humanity”.

“Both countries also agree that concerted action is necessary to end cross-border terrorism. And for this, together we will continue to try to alert the international community,” Modi stated. The two sides will cooperate to stop misuse of our on-line world to unfold extremist ideologies, he stated.

Sisi added the 2 leaders mentioned efficient methods to confront terrorism and extremism, and had been of the frequent view that cooperation in crucial to finish violence, terrorism and extremism.

The two nations signed 5 agreements for cooperation in IT, cybersecurity, tradition, youth affairs, and broadcasting. One of the memorandums of understanding will facilitate cooperation between the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team and the Egyptian Computer Emergency Readiness Team in cybersecurity.

Modi stated the 2 sides will enhance bilateral commerce to $12 billion within the subsequent 5 years. As a part of the deal with financial engagement, the 2 sides mentioned strengthening meals and pharmaceutical provide chains affected by Covid-19 and the Ukraine battle. Sisi known as for extra flights between the 2 nations to spice up tourism.

Two-way commerce is at present price round $7 billion a 12 months. Egypt final 12 months accredited India for wheat imports although solely 61,000 tonnes had been shipped earlier than New Delhi banned grain exports.

In an interplay with HT after the talks, Sisi stated the 2 sides mentioned methods to take ahead cooperation in key areas similar to ICT and prescribed drugs. The problem of grain exports from India had additionally figured, he stated.

“Egypt is open and prepared for stronger cooperation in various sectors in the industrial field. We have high respect for India’s inspiring experiences and want to learn from them. We have great appreciation for the efforts exerted by Prime Minister Modi and his accomplishments for India,” he stated, expressing appreciation for the “cherished invitation” to him to be chief visitor on the Republic Day parade.

Responding to a query on whether or not Palestine figured within the talks, Sisi described it as a “very significant issue”. He stated, “We always say that if this issue is resolved, the whole region will change and become more stable and secure. It will open the way for stronger relations between regional countries.”

He added, “We always encourage Palestine and Israel to move on and pursue the two-state solution to the Palestinian issue.”

Foreign secretary Vinay Kwatra Kwatra informed a media briefing that the strategic partnership shall be primarily based on 4 pillars – political and safety cooperation, financial engagement, scientific and tutorial collaboration, and cultural and people-to-people contacts.

“Both leaders strongly condemned the use of terrorism by countries as a foreign policy instrument and called for zero tolerance to terrorism and for all those who encourage, support and finance terrorism, provide sanctuaries to terrorists and terror groups, whatever their motivation may be,” he stated.

Talmiz Ahmad, who served as India’s envoy to Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE, linked the elevation of bilateral ties to Egypt “coming of age” after a number of years of home crises. “India and Egypt have re-established their relations to make them relevant to the new era. While they were brought together by non-alignment in the middle of the last century, now they have been brought together by the concept of new world order based on strategic partnerships of emerging powers,” he stated.

Ahmad added, “It is not surprising that there is a strong strategic element in the new relationship. This is founded on shared perceptions related to security concerns. The coming together of these two countries will enhance their capabilities to face new challenges in counterterrorism, cybersecurity and maritime security, especially in the western Indian Ocean.”