India, Egypt decides to elevate bilateral ties to strategic partnership

India and Egypt on Wednesday decided to elevate their ties to the level of strategic partnership with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi vowing to expand ties in areas of defence and security, trade and counter-terror cooperation.

After his wide-ranging talks with Sisi, Modi said the two sides were unanimous in their view that terrorism is the most serious security threat to humanity and that they agreed that concrete measures are needed to end cross-border terrorism.

The two sides inked five agreements providing for cooperation in areas of culture, IT, cyber security, youth matters and broadcasting.

In his media statement in the presence of Sisi, Modi also said that both sides have decided to take the bilateral trade to USD 12 billion in next five years.

"We have decided that under the India-Egypt strategic partnership, we will develop a long-term framework for comprehensive cooperation in political, security, economic and scientific