Defense min. heads to India to discuss military cooperation

CAIRO – 12 November 2017: Egypt’s Defense Minister Sedky Sobhi left Cairo Sunday to India, where he will meet his counterpart Nirmala Sitharaman.

During his visit, Sobhi will hold several meetings related to military and security cooperation, where he will discuss coordinating efforts between the armed forces of both countries.

Sitharaman has been appointed as India's first full-time woman defense minister in a cabinet reshuffle announced in September.

Sitharaman was previously a minister of state for commerce and industry. She was also a spokesperson for India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Indian Minister of State for External Affairs M. J. Akbar attended the ceremony held in October on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Alamein Battle in Egypt.
Akbar expressed gratitude to President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi on behalf of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for Egypt’s support to the Indian candidate, Justice Bhandari, during his run for a second term to a seat on the International Court of Justice.

The Indian minister affirmed that President Sisi is very eager to take Egyptian-Indian ties to a much higher level; boosting bilateral relations “not simply on government-to-government level but (also improving) partnership on a people-to-people level.”

Akbar described his meeting with the Egyptian president as “excellent.” "It was also an occasion to reassert what our prime minister has been saying about terrorism, and the message he is giving is 'There is no good terrorism, no bad terrorism. All terrorism is evil' and President Sisi endorsed that completely," the minister added.