Indian Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Monday embarked on a two-day visit to Egypt to further deepen coordination between the armed forces of the two countries on strategic issues, as per an Indian Defenсe Ministry statement.
Pande is set to meet Egypt's senior military leadership to discuss avenues for further enhancing the bilateral defense relations, as per the statement.
“The Army Chief will interact with the Commander-in-Chief of Egyptian Armed Forces, Minister of Defence & Military Production, and Chief of Staff, Egyptian Armed Forces,” the statement noted.
India and Egypt Declare Stratefic Partnership
Defense and overall ties between India and Egypt have been on the upswing since the two governments upgraded their ties to the level of ‘Strategic Partnership’, to cover political, security, defence, energy and economic areas all at once.
This was decided during the state visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to New Delhi this January, where he was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade.
As a result, India and Egypt have accelerated interaction between the respective armed forces through training exchanges, joint exercises, transits and high-level bilateral visits, as per a joint statement after the meeting between PM Narendra Modi and El-Sisi in January.
They also signed an MoU in defence primarily aimed at facilitating the exchange of technology between defence industries of the two countries.
In what served as another testament to growing India-Egypt ties, the armies of the two nations carried out their first-ever joint drills, Ex Cyclone-I, which witnessed the participation of the special forces, in January this year.
In October 2021, the Indian Air Force (IAF) participated in the first-ever ‘Joint Tactical Air Exercise’ in Egypt.
Joint Counter-Terrorism Efforts
The two leaderships also have a common view on terrorism and have condemned it as “one of the most serious security threats to humanity”.
In this regard, India and Egypt held the third meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) on terrorism in February this year, during which they discussed their counterterrorism priorities and steps taken to combat terrorism while also reviewing the threats posed by terror organisations both internationally and in their particular countries and regions, as per an Indian statement on the meeting.