Indian vice president meets Egypt's FM

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy, who began his visit to India earlier Wednesday ,choosing India as the destination of his first visit to Asia, had broad ranging discussions with Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari on the latest developments in egypt and progress made for implementing the roadmap with emphasis on the fifty-member committee which finalized the drft constitution pending to public referendum, said the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. The statement added that the talks also featured means of bolstering bilateral relations in all fields in addition to a set of other regional and international issues of concern with emphasis on the regional security. Fahmy on his part highlighted the setting up of a strategic dialogue with india covering all regional and international topics of mutual concern. Earlier Wednesday Fahmy and his Indian counterpart Salman Khurshid agreed to take forward issues of cooperation during the upcoming visit by Secretary East in the Ministry of External Affairs to Egypt before this month-end. The two Ministers also discussed specific issues related to enhancing economic cooperation, including need to ease work permit regulations for professionals. Currently, the bilateral trade was $5.4 billion. India is the third largest destination of Egyptian exports ($2.6 billion) and Egypt is the 11th largest destination of Indian exports ($2.9 billion). Khurshid informed his Egyptian counterpart of India’s approval to establishing a Centre of Excellence in Information Technology at Al Azhar University in Cairo. The centre, which will be set up as project under the India-Africa Forum Summit, is planned for completion in a year after the confirmation of infrastructure by the host institution. Once completed, it will be able to train 500 students annually. The two ministers also reviewed the entire expanse of bilateral relations, the possibilities of more regular structured discussions on regional and international issues as well as security matters. They exchanged views on the Middle East Peace Process and the situation in Syria. The Egyptian Minister also outlined the developments in his country and the road map ahead. He also called on the Vice President and met the National Security Adviser.