Egyptian Ambassador to India Mohamed Higazy has announced plans to launch an e-network devoted to education and health care next month linking Egypt and India.
The scheme comes within the context of an India-led e-networking initiative targeting the African continent.
In an interview on Thursday with Middle East News, Higazy noted that Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and Indian Foreign Minister S M Krishna would announce the launch of the new e-network on 16 August via video conference.
“The aim of this network is to share Tele-medicine and Tele-education services between Indian and Egyptian university students and facilitate the exchange of experience, know-how and university lectures in these two vital fields,” Higazy explained in the interview. He went on to point out that the University of Alexandria had been chosen to be the hub of the e-network.
Higazy also noted that Egypt-India relations had seen considerable progress recently, with 25 official bilateral visits having taken place in the past year alone. Furthermore, trade between the two countries had increased from $US1 billion in 2004 to $US3.5 billion in 2008, with Egypt having exported goods valued at $US 1.9 billion to India in the latter year.
Higazy went on to note that, due to the global financial crisis, bilateral trade between Egypt and India had fallen to $US2.9 billion in 2009, although he expected this figure to increase this year.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
