India's Maritime Strategy by Shishir Upadhyaya

Author:Shishir Upadhyaya [Upadhyaya, Shishir]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9780429673757
Google: BHatDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-09-05T03:49:06+00:00

Egypt

India has a long history of close contacts with Egypt, which have continued uninterrupted till date despite the political turmoil of recent years. In addition to close political understanding, trade, investment, and cultural contacts have remained the core of India’s relationship with Egypt. India has been an important trading partner for Egypt, and bilateral trade in 2018 was estimated at $3.68 billion.9 In 2006, India signed a defence cooperation agreement with Egypt; however, bilateral maritime security cooperation has been limited to occasional ship visits.10 In September 2018, during the visit of the Indian defence minister to Egypt, it was decided to upgrade the extant defence ties to include cooperation in counter-terrorism, combined exercises, and joint development of military equipment.11 However, progress so far has been slow and restricted, ostensibly since Egypt lies on the fringes of India’s area of interest.

In comparison to India, China’s relations with Egypt have expanded rapidly. Egypt’s Suez Canal lies at the heart of China’s maritime silk road and not surprisingly China is the largest current investor in the Suez Canal where it is also developing a special economic zone. China has been Egypt’s largest trading partner since 2012, and its economic engagements have swelled considerably in recent years.12 Following a relative decline in Egypt’s relations with the United States and a reluctance in Washington to supply arms, Cairo has sought to diversify its diplomatic engagements with Russia and China. In 2014, Egypt signed a $3.5 billion arms deal with Russia and a comprehensive strategic partnership with China. However, despite the upswing in Sino-Egypt relations, it is believed that China’s economic investments in Egypt may not translate into political or military influence, given the leverages maintained by the United States and the role of other regional investors notably Saudi Arabia and the UAE.13

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.