India keen to boost economic cooperation with Egypt

India is keen on ramping up economic cooperation with Egypt, focussing on trade and investment, the Indian envoy at Cairo has said while underlining the need for "transparency and predictability" to woo more Indian businesses to this key Middle East country.

"Trade between India and Egypt increased by about 60% over the last five years and this is really remarkable because you will notice that trade between many other countries has actually stagnated or even gone down and global trade itself is stagnating so this is a remarkable development," India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya told PTI.

With the participation of about 20 leading Indian companies, the third round of the Egyptian-Indian Business Council will be heldon March 10 to discuss ways of boosting cooperation and investments between both countries especially in the fields of chemicals, leather, furniture and medicine.

The round will be held on the sidelines of the joint trade committee, which will begin its meeting on March 9.

Speaking about economic cooperation opportunities between India and Egypt, Bhattacharyya said economic issues should be viewed in totality.