A 17-member business delegation from the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) visited Egypt last week in a bid to boost trade ties with the country. “We are here to take forward what was outlined during the visit of President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to India last year and to put greater emphasis on business-to-business cooperation,” Indian Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said during an India-Egypt business seminar held in Cairo last week. He said that India had witnessed unprecedented development over the last few decades due to the introduction of reforms and the liberalisation of the economy which had created a favourable business environment. Egypt has also implemented a bundle of economic reforms that aim at attracting foreign direct investment after years of political instability that scared off investors. In November, the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) floated the Egyptian pound and carried out cuts in subsidies. A new investment law is now in the works with the aim of making the investment climate more attractive. Ajit Gupte, joint secretary at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, said that the current investment climate in Egypt would attract Indian companies, especially since these were increasingly looking for operations overseas and with a focus on Africa. “Egypt is one of the leading countries in Africa, and we're here to look at various forms of investment,” Gupte, who led the mission, told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that more Indian investment was expected in Egypt in the coming period. He said that Egypt was important to India as it is the largest trading partner for the country in Africa and its sixth-largest trading partner globally. He added that trade between the two countries has been growing over the past few years. Trade between Egypt and India stood at $3.5 billion from April 2015 to March 2016, according to figures from the Embassy of India in Egypt. Al-Sisi visited India in September last year when he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The leaders agreed on the importance of trade expansion and vowed to boost economic ties by setting a bilateral trade target of $8 billion to be achieved in the near future from the current $3 billion. Gupte said that Egypt's main exports to India were petroleum products, some of which are refined in India and exported back. He added that India had large investments in Egypt in the chemical and petrochemical sectors. Egypt could make use of Indian companies that are not only globally competitive, but are also able to provide goods and services to global standards that are still much cheaper than those of Western countries, Gupte added. Furthermore, Indian companies are global leaders in the pharmaceuticals and petrochemical sectors, so Egypt could make use of their experience, expertise and technology, he said. In order to boost Indian investment in Egypt, Gupte said that “more steps need to be taken to increase awareness about the investment opportunities available for Indian companies in Egypt” in comments to the Weekly. India has over 50 companies operating in Egypt, with investment exceeding $3 billion. They provide direct and indirect employment to roughly 35,000 Egyptian workers, according to the Indian Embassy. Top Egyptian exports to India include meat, cars, cotton yarn, machinery and agricultural products, while Indian exports to Egypt include mineral fuels, raw cotton, electrical machinery and mineral products. The CII is one of the premier business chambers in India. It was founded in 1895 and has over 8,000 members from the private and public sectors.
