Indian companies are awaiting the announcement of the Suez Canal master plan to start establishing new projects in Egypt. "We are very excited and positive after the opening of the new Suez Canal, and Indian companies have a very big interest to do more business in Egypt, but they want to know more details about the area from the master plan," Indian Ambassador Sanjay Bhattacharyya told Daily News Egypt. Monday, the Indian Embassy held a celebration of Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) in Cairo. "The celebration comes to keep alive the spirit of cooperation and interaction amongst Egyptians who have undertaken training in India under the ITEC programme." according to a statement issued from the embassy. Bhattacharyya added that there are 50 Indian companies in Egypt, part of them totally owned by Indians, and the other are joint ventures with Egyptian companies. "The current Indian investments in Egypt are estimated at $3bn in different sectors, such as pharmaceutical industries, petrochemicals, machinery, cosmetics, plastic industries, and textiles," the ambassador said. ITEC is a programme of cooperation and partnership under which India has been sharing its technical expertise with developing countries since 1964. The programme offers over 280 courses through 47 training institutions in diverse subjects. Bhattacharyya said the programme offers civilian and military courses, noting that 600 Egyptians have taken advantages of civilian subjects including IT, public administration, audit and accounting, election management, SMEs, entrepreneurship, rural development, parliamentary affairs, and renewable energy. "The programme also offers scholarships in defence management and anti-terrorism for senior officers," the ambassador said, adding that around 50 Egyptian military personnel have received the scholarship.
