Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will begin a landmark visit to India from 1 September, his second in less than a year, during which he is set to hold talks with the top Indian leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ministry of external affairs said Sisi will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, officials and business leaders. The main items on the agenda of discussions between Sisi and Modi are expected to be ways to eradicate terrorism and deepen economic engagement between the two countries. "President Sisi's visit will be a landmark and it will give further momentum to the already strong partnership between the two countries," India's ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya was quoted as saying by PTI in Cairo. "The bilateral relations between the two countries have three pillars which are political, economic and cultural exchanges and the discussions during the visit would cover those three areas," Bhattacharyya said. "There are also new Indian investments in Egypt as we seek to expand our economic engagement. We recently inaugurated a vocational training centre here and we are looking forward to start our next development project which is a centre of excellence in information technology at Al-Azhar University," Bhattacharyya said. Sisi last visited India in October last year for the third India-Africa Summit. Egypt was one of the first countries to feel the impact of the Arab Spring revolution which began in 2011 and saw the overthrow of long ruling dispensations in Tunisia and Egypt, besides Yemen and Libya. Since coming to power in June 2014, Sisi has taken steps to boost the Egyptian economy. Last year, he inaugurated the New Suez Canal, a waterway running parallel to a part of the 19th century Suez Canal connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The project cost an estimated $8 billion. Sisi's visit comes as India engages countries in the region. Last year, Modi visited the United Arab Emirates and this year, he visited Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had visited Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain besides Egypt last year. Last week, minister of state for external affairs M.J. Akbar visited Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. During his visit, Sisi is expected to meet business leaders from India. India is Egypt's sixth largest trading partner. Source: Live Mint
