India, Egypt sign MoU to bolster defence cooperation across all sectors of mutual interest

India and Egypt have agreed to identify proposals for expanding cooperation between the defence industries of the two countries in a time-bound manner. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh held bilateral talks with his Egyptian counterpart General Mohamed Zaki in Cairo yesterday.

Both sides discussed steps to strengthen defence ties and reached a consensus to enhance conduct of joint exercises and exchange of personnel for training especially in the field of counter-insurgency.

The two Ministers also exchanged views on regional security and acknowledged the contribution of India and Egypt to peace and stability in the world.

Following Mr. Singh’s call on with President of Egypt Mr Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, both the Ministers agreed to consolidate and focus on enhancing security and defence aspects of bilateral cooperation.

They also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of defence to pave the way for enhancing defence cooperation across all sectors of mutual interest.

In a tweet, Mr Singh said, the signing of the MoU adds new impetus and synergy to the India-Egypt relations.

He also invited his Egyptian counterpart to the India-Africa Defence Dialogue and IOR Defence Ministers’ Conclave scheduled to be held as part of 12th Defence Expo in Gandhinagar next month.