India and Egypt to begin groundwork for possible bilateral trade agreement

India and Egypt have agreed to jointly prepare the terms of reference (ToR) for a possible bilateral trade agreement, marking the first formal step towards negotiations.

The announcement was made on Sunday during the India-Egypt Joint Trade Committee meeting, attended by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Egypt's Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Mohamed Farid Saleh.

The two countries will form a working group to finalise the ToR. India's team will be led by Petal Dhillon, a Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry, and will work with Egyptian officials in a time-bound manner, Goyal said.

The minister said the proposed agreement could expand cooperation beyond trade and investment to areas such as education.

India and Egypt currently trade goods and services worth $6.5 billion annually. However, Goyal said both countries "need to be much more ambitious" in expanding economic ties.

He identified pharmaceuticals, healthcare, engineering, automobiles, agriculture, digitisation and financial technology (fintech) as key areas for cooperation. He also highlighted opportunities for collaboration in the museum sector.

Goyal also called for greater use of the Indian rupee and Egyptian pound in bilateral trade to reduce transaction costs and strengthen economic ties.

The Reserve Bank of India and Egypt's central bank are already working towards facilitating trade in local currencies, he said.

The minister also proposed linking India's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) with Egypt's payment systems.

"More trade in local currencies and more work on payment systems can transform the way we do business, bring down the cost of doing business and help businesses to do much more," he said.