India- Egypt

·         On July 1, 2008 midst of hectic political developments over the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal, EAM Pranab Mukherjee started a three-day visit to Egypt to reinforce and diversify the strong and deep-rooted bilateral ties between the two countries.

·         The visit, at the invitation of Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit, happened to be the first by an Indian foreign minister to Egypt since February 2001.

·         Egypt will host the 15th NAM Summit in July 2009.

Mission IAS’2009

·         Economic and commercial relations between India and Egypt have expanded significantly in recent years.

·         India was Egypt’s fourth largest trade partner and the largest importer of Egyptian products last year.

·         The bilateral trade amounted to $2.356 billion. Indian investments in Egypt, currently estimated at $750 million, are expected to go up to $2 billion by 2010.

·         India and Egypt enjoyed an exceptionally close relationship during the Nehru-Nasser era, and signed a Friendship Treaty in 1955.

·         The birth of Non-Aligned Movement was, inter alia, the outcome of this relationship.

·        The Non-Aligned Movement, or NAM, is an international organization of over 100 states which consider themselves not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc.

·        The purpose of the organization as stated in the Havana Declaration of 1979 is to ensure "the national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of non-aligned countries in their struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, racism, Zionism, and all forms of foreign aggression, occupation, domination, interference or hegemony as well as against great power and bloc politics".

• They represent nearly two-thirds of the United Nations's members and comprise 55% of the world population