The Prime Minister noted that the Egyptian government is undertaking a comprehensive economic reform project in addition to reviewing all economic legislation to increase foreign investment, restore confidence of international markets, increase growth rates and create jobs. Egypt is known to import meat, medicines, chemicals, tea and sugar from India. In a statement the prime minister noted that he consulted with Suri to strengthen all economic, commercial, technical and cultural fields. Mehleb noted that Egypt is negotiating to increase Indian investment and tourism presence in Egypt in the near future, and is expected to work to combat and solve all difficulties faced by Indian companies in Egypt in the shortest amount of time possible. Suri also noted that India supports Egypt in its efforts to enact economic reform, “We plan to increase our investments in Egypt and motivate more Indian tourism by reassuring citizens of the security situation in Egypt and increasing cultural coordination,” He said adding that the Indian government supports investment in Egypt as an investment and marking base, not only on the level of the domestic market, but also in the greater region. The Indian investments in Egypt amount to $2.5bn across 50 ventures in the textile, clothing, pharmaceutical, information technology, petrochemical and auto parts fields, among others. In all, the government hopes for trade exchange between the two countries to reach $8bn USD in 2016. In 2012, trade between India and Egypt was worth $5.5bn and $2.3bn during the first half of 2013.
