India and Egypt on Tuesday resolved to further strengthen their defence ties and decided to enhance conduct of joint exercises and training in the field of counter-insurgency during talks between Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Egyptian counterpart General Mohamed Zaki in Cairo. They also inked a Memorandum of Understanding(MOU) on co-operation in the field of defence.
Rajnath is on a two-day visit starting Monday and during his parleys the two ministers also agreed to identify proposals for expanding cooperation between the defence industries of India and Egypt in a time-bound manner, defence ministry official said here.
The two ministers also exchanged views on regional security and acknowledged the contribution of India and Egypt to peace and stability in the world. Both sides expressed happiness at the intensified defence engagement and exchanges over the last year, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Following Rajnath’s call on with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, both the Ministers agreed to consolidate and focus on enhancing security and defence aspects of bilateral cooperation.
Signing of a memorandum of understanding(MoU) by the two Defence Ministers on cooperation in the field of defence was a milestone event during the visit, which will pave the way for enhancing defence cooperation across all sectors of mutual interest.
Rajnath also invited his Egyptian counterpart to the India-Africa Defence Dialogue and Indian Ocean Region(IOR) Defence Ministers’ Conclave, scheduled to be held as part of 12th DefExpo in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between October 18-22, 2022.
As part of his day’s engagements, Rajnath paid homage at the Unknown Soldier Memorial and Tombstone of the late Egyptian President Anwar El–Sadat in Cairo.