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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday kicked off his first state visit to Egypt by holding discussions with his Egyptian counterpart Mostafa Madbouly and senior cabinet ministers on deepening trade relations and further strengthening the strategic partnership.
Modi is visiting Egypt at the invitation of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, marking the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to the country in 26 years. He will meet the Egyptian President tomorrow, Sunday.
The prime minister started his visit with discussions with Egyptian Prime Minister Madbouly and senior ministers to deepen trade relations and strengthen the strategic partnership. He also met with the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Dr. Shawky Ibrahim Abdel Karim Allam, and interacted with members of the Indian diaspora.
He also met members of the Indian diaspora and the Bohra community.
The prime minister’s meeting with members of the Bohra community comes ahead of his visit on Sunday to Cairo’s historic Al-Hakim Mosque, which has been restored with the help of the Dawoodi Bohra community in India. The Bohra community in India originated from the Fatimah dynasty and they renovated the mosque from the 1970s onwards.
Earlier, in a special gesture, Egyptian Prime Minister Modi was greeted at the airport here with a warm embrace, and was met with an official welcome and a guard of honor.
I am confident that this visit will strengthen India’s relations with Egypt. Prime Minister Modi said on Twitter after his arrival in Cairo, “Looking forward to talks with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and attending other programmes.
Modi’s first official engagement was a meeting with India Unity, a group of high-ranking ministers formed by President Sisi in March to strengthen the relationship with India. The two leaders had decided to elevate the relationship to the level of strategic partnership during Sisi’s visit to India as a chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations this year.
The meeting with Modi was attended by seven members of the Egyptian cabinet led by Madbouly.
At the outset, the Prime Minister thanked Egypt for setting up the high level India unit assigned to him and appreciated the entire government approach.
“Discussions focused on deepening cooperation across a range of areas including trade, investment, renewable energy, green hydrogen, information technology, digital payment platforms, medicine and people-to-people relations,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said on Twitter.
Earlier, the Indian diaspora, dressed in traditional clothes, gathered in droves at the Ritz-Carlton here to welcome Modi.
Waving the Indian tricolor, members of the Indian community welcomed the prime minister with chants of “Modi, Modi” and “Vande Mataram” when he arrived at the hotel here.
An Egyptian woman, Gina, wearing a saree, greeted Modi with the popular song “Yeh Dosti Hum Nahi Chhodenge” from the movie “Sholay”. Impressed by Kishore Kumar-Manna Dey’s number rendition, the Prime Minister expressed surprise when Gina said she knew very little Hindi and had never been to India.
Prime Minister Modi said, “Kisi ko pata bhi nahi chalega ki aap Misr ki beti ho ya Hindustan ki beti ho (Nobody will be able to tell whether you are a daughter of Egypt or a daughter of India),” PM Modi said.
He will visit the Heliopolis War Cemetery to pay respects to the Indian troops who gave their lives in a final act of bravery for Egypt during the First World War. This memorial was built by the Commonwealth, though, and is dedicated to the 3,799 Indian soldiers who lost their lives in various World War I conflicts in Egypt.
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