India and Egypt target to increase annual bilateral trade to $12 billion in the next five years from $7.26 billion recorded in the financial year ended March 2022, according to an official statement released on Thursday.

Senior officials of the two countries agreed to boost bilateral trade during the meeting held in Cairo from 25-26 July 2022.

Officials met at the 5th session of the India-Egypt Joint Trade Committee and the 5th India-Egypt Joint Business Council Meeting 25-26 July 2022 Cairo.

A five-member delegation from India led by Srikar K Reddy, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India, accompanied by Ajit Gupte, Ambassador of India to Egypt, called on Nevine Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, Arab Republic of Egypt, in Cairo on 26 July 2022.

The agreements of the 5th Session of the India-Egypt Joint Trade Committee (JTC), held on 25 July 2022, were signed between the two sides in the presence of the Egyptian minister.

'Affirming mutual keenness in diversifying and expanding trade and investment linkages, both sides set an annual bilateral trade target of US$ 12 billion to be achieved within 5 years,' the Ministry of Commerce & Industry said in a statement.

To accelerate trade, both sides agreed to expeditiously address all issues impeding bilateral trade; facilitate trade promotion between the two countries; and identify bilateral focal points to further strengthen bilateral institutional cooperation.

Both sides made progress in the discussion on the resolution of non-tariff barriers with the Egyptian side agreeing to expedite the scheduling of the visit of its technical delegations to India to address NTB issues related to the export of some of the Indian agricultural products to Egypt, news agency ANI reported.

Also, with reference to cooperation in the pharmaceuticals sector, the Egyptian side agreed to initiate technical discussions with the concerned agency in India to take forward the proposal of inclusion of India in the list of reference countries accepted by Egyptian authorities for the import of pharmaceutical products.

India-Egypt bilateral trade reached a record high of $7.26 billion FY 2021-22 which is an increase of 75 percent over FY 2020-21.

Egypt is one of the largest investment destinations for India in the region with an existing Indian investment of $3.15 billion. Indian companies continue to execute several projects in Egypt, the ministry said.

During the meeting, both sides undertook a detailed review of recent developments in trade and investment ties and noted that the relationship, while already excellent, has huge potential to be scaled up even further.

To this effect, both sides identified several areas of focus for enhancing both bilateral trade as well as mutually beneficial investments. These include food, agro and marine products, energy particularly renewable energy including green hydrogen and green ammonia, health and pharmaceuticals, chemicals and petrochemicals, MSMEs, engineering goods, manufacturing, IT and IT enabled services, tourism, and so on.

Both sides also reviewed the progress of ongoing discussions for Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) in the field of standards, IT, and transport, and agreed to conclude them expeditiously.

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