Press Trust of India,
A six-member Egyptian Defence Delegation led by Maj Gen Mohamed Mohsen Saad El Shazly, Deputy Chief of Operation Authority of the Egyptian Armed Forces, called on the Minister of State for Defence Dr. MM Pallam Raju here today. The two sides discussed ways to enhance Defence Cooperation and greater interaction between their Armed Forces.
The Egyptian delegation is on a week-long visit to India to participate in the 2nd Indo-Egypt Joint Defence Committee Meeting. India and Egypt, both members of the Non-Aligned Movement, are emerging stabilizing forces in the world’s two strategic regions, – South Asia and Middle East.
While recalling the close relationship enjoyed between the two countries during the Nehruvian era, Dr. Pallam Raju expressed the hope that India and Egypt, as members of G-15, will play an important role in South-South Cooperation apart from the existing trade partnerships in Africa. The Minister also expressed his happiness over the increasing training cooperation between the forces of both the countries in each other’s Defence Training Institutes. Dr. Pallam Raju stressed that India follows a policy of having friendly relations and peaceful co-existence with all its neighbours based on the principle of Panchsheel.
The two sides later signed on the minutes agreed upon during the Defence Committee Meeting held here yesterday. Maj Gen Mohamed El Shazly and Shri PK Rastogi, Special Secretary, Ministry of Defence, India, exchanged documents to the effect. Proposals include training and visits of soldiers to each other’s Defence Institutes. The visiting Egyptian delegation also called on the Defence Secretary Shri Vijay Singh and discussed matters of mutual interest.
