Al-Mashat Participates in 59th Celebration of ITEC Program

The Minister of International Cooperation H.E Dr.Rania A. Al-Mashat participated in the ceremony organized by the Indian Embassy in Cairo on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the launch of the Indian ITEC program, in the presence of the Indian Ambassador in Cairo, Ajit Gupte, in light of the Government's eagerness to strengthen common relations with all brotherly and friendly countries to enhance development efforts and investment in human capital.

In her speech, the Minister applauded the depth of the joint Egyptian-Indian relations spanning decades, and the two countries look forward to increasing the volume of cooperation, in light of the development witnessed and the recent visit of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to India during last January, as part of India's Republic Day celebrations, where the visit coincided with the 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The Minister stressed the importance of developing common relations with the Indian side, in the light of the joint statement issued by the leaders of the two countries, during the presidential visit to India. It addressed the encouragement to elevate bilateral relations to the stage of strategic cooperation and mutual coordination in various issues and topics of interest to both countries, stressing Egypt's efforts to strengthen cooperation in various priority areas, especially investment, food security, green transition and renewable energy.

H.E. pointed to the efforts of the Government of Egypt to stimulate private sector participation in development and attract foreign investments in priority sectors, pointing at the same time to the success of the ITEC Program that has boosted investment efforts in human capital and contributed to the training of more than 1600 trainees and cadres in the fields of banking, finance, communications, management, urban development, renewable energy, environment, public health and nursing.

H.E. said ITEC represents opportunity for further cooperation with the Indian side in various priority areas, noting that there are many projects and programmes implemented with the Indian side for human capital development, including the Shubra Al-Khaymah Vocational Training Project, and the Al-Azhar University Center of Technological Excellence.

She also touched upon the Nexus for Water, Food and Energy Platform (NWFE) programme, which promotes technical cooperation and mobilizes various financing mechanisms for priority sectors under the umbrella of the National Strategy on Climate Change, and its areas represent an opportunity to strengthen cooperation with the Indian side.

For his part, the Indian Ambassador in Cairo welcomed H.E. Al-Mashat, as the guest of honor at the 59th celebration of the ITEC, explaining that Egyptian-Indian relations have been intertwined for thousands of years, and the two civilizations are among the oldest and most famous civilizations in the world.

The Indian Ambassador pointed out that the visit of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to India is a historic visit as it is considered the first participation of the President of Egypt in the celebrations of the Republic Day of India. During the event, the relations between the two countries were increased to the level of a strategic partnership to strengthen relations in various fields, noting that the mutual relations between the two countries have witnessed a great improvement in 2021 to 2022, to increase the levels of trade exchange to about $7.2 billion with a growth of 75%, and there are 25 Indian companies investing in Egypt and the amount of their investment to about $3.2 billion in various industries.

Over the past year and a half, 15 delegations representing 600 Indian companies have visited Egypt to learn about the investment opportunities available, Indian companies have also signed agreements to expand in the field of green hydrogen, and the country look’s forward to more joint work and cooperation in the coming period.

At the end of the ceremony, the Minister and Ambassador honored those newly graduated from the ITEC Programme.