NEW DELHI, July 18: With Egypt’s new President Mohamed Mursi bringing free-market policies, the country could be a profitable destination for Indian investments.
Egypt would very much like India to make use of this opportunity much before China takes the lead, highly placed diplomatic sources said here, adding that military industry was one of the areas where India could look for investment.
However, so far the experience with Indian companies and the set up has not been as enthusiastic as Egypt was expecting, the sources told.
“The responses are much slower as compared to what we experienced in China.” they said.
Egypt can act as India’s gateway to increasing its footprint in Africa too, they said, pointing out India was a late entrant to investment opportunities in Africa as compared to China
In the first freely contested elections for head of state, Mr Mursi of Muslim Brotherhood was elected President this month, and he now has the opportunity to bring back on track the economy of the country after 16 months of turmoil that unprooted the decades old military rule with the ouster of the Hosni Mubarak Government.
Mr Mursi wants to implement an economic plan for free investment flows to revive growth in the country, but before that he would have to ensure stability in the country and enjoy enough powers to carry forward his economic reforms. It is to be seen what extent of powers he is given under the new constitution to be drafted to replace the current interim constitution.
The sources said that since Mr Mursi has clear popular mandate, there would be no problem for him to go ahead with his new economic plans.
It is reported that Egypt hopes to bring around 200 billion dollars on foreign investment for which the Government would have to prepare a conducive atmosphere.
The diplomatic sources said India should lose no time in using the new investment avenues that would be opening in Egypt in areas like infrastructure, health, education, and hydrocarbons besides the Military industry.
They said water desalination was another sector in which India should look for cooperation with Egypt. With river Nile being put to increasing stress due to increasing population and industrialisation, Egypt would have to depend more and more on desalinated water, and so was looking for cooperation and investments from countries like India.
This could be a win win situation for both the countries as desalination was going to solve the problem of India too as it was going to face water stress in the near future, they said.
India which is looking for ways to enhance its energy security could find much of interest in Egypt which has substantial coal deposits in the northeast Sinai, Oil and gas in the western desert regions, the Gulf of Suez, and the Nile Delta.
Lying mainly in north Africa with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia, Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in the Middle East. It is one of the most populous countries in Africa and the Middle East with a population of 82.2 million people.
India and Egypt are two of the world’s ancient civilizations with a history of close contact. The two countries, which are very ancient civilisations of the world have enjoyed ageold relations. Their relations reached a new height during the Nehru-Nasser era, which was a major factor in the birth of the Non-Alinghed Movement. The two countries signed a Friendship Treaty in 1955.
(UNI)
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