Egyptian & Indian business officials discuss potential projects

CAIRO–11 March 2018: India vows to be on economic engagement track, where Indian and Egyptian business officials have discussed potential investments in Egypt at a conference entitled “India-Egypt Economic Engagement- Poised for Transformation” that was held on Sunday at Intercontinental Semiramis hotel in Garden City.

Among the attendees who engaged in talks about current and new investments between the two countries are the Indian Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Chairman of Egyptian Business Association Ali Eissa, and Deputy President of India-Egypt joint Business Council andChairman of Easy Health and Beauty Care Asser Salama.

“Today we are looking at the ways that both countries can work together for greater benefit from each other. We are approaching an era of globalization that contains a pattern of protectionism, the development of networks are all heading towards globalization. In this spark of globalization, great value is added,” Bhattacharyya said in his opening speech.

He also added that as technology is undergoing rapid change, every market should be competing with other markets adding: “Without innovating there is no way to survive and the true test lies on implementation on ground and most importantly we need to think thoroughly about collaboration for third world countries’ projects.”

The business talks also included Chairman of Egypt Junior Businessmen Association Amr El- Seginy, Chairman of Asia-Egypt Business Association Karim Helal, Executive Director of the Federation of Egyptian Industries Khalid Abdel Azim, and Principal Counsellor of Confederation of Indian Industry N. Muthuszhiyan.

A “Make in India” video has been displayed, showcasing the manufacturing process and business progress in Indian industries, including defense manufacturing, textiles where India is among the largest producers of cotton worldwide, electronic systems, chemicals where India ranks the third largest chemical industry worldwide, and owns the fourth largest rail network, 100 smart cities that are underway, among other promising industries.

The Indian ambassador further spoke about the potential business trades between both countries especially in the fields of technology and urban planning.

“We are working with the Egyptian side on certain grant projects including a vocational training center in textiles, solar electricity project in metro and we are currently about to establish a center of excellence in IT at Al Azhar University; however, this project is currently under discussion,” Bhattacharyya told Egypt Today.

The Indian economic experience

“India is no place for cheap labor anymore, India is currently a place for skilled labor and will be becoming an economic giant very soon,” Deputy President of India-Egypt joint Business Council and Chairman of Easy Health and Beauty Care Asser Salama said while assessing Indian economic performance during the presentation.

Salama has pointed out four important advice tips to consider when investing in India including having a local partner at India, focusing on investing and empowering Indian staff, truly deepening in the roots of the Indian culture, and offering something different because “India is a very competitive market,” he confirmed.

Bhattachryya also discussed the Indian steps in establishing informal economy and reform where he confirmed that an informal economy in India will continue to grow but most importantly it is crucial to assimilate the informal economy with the formal one.
“Introducing demonetization in India took 86 percent of hard cash from the market that was replaced with new cash. This process replaced black money but the main objective was to get people enrolled in the formal market,” he explained.