Cairo, Nov 15 (PTI) India and Egypt on Sunday announced that officials from both countries will work toward finalising the

Cairo, Nov 15 (PTI) India and Egypt on Sunday announced that officials from both countries will work toward finalising the

Cairo, Nov 15 (PTI) India and Egypt on Sunday announced that officials from both countries will work toward finalising the

Cairo, Nov 15 (PTI) India and Egypt on Sunday announced that officials from both countries will work toward finalising the terms of reference (ToR) for a potential bilateral trade agreement.

    Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said promoting trade in local currencies would help boost economic ties and reduce the cost of doing business.

    "I welcome the announcement....We will have teams led by Petal Dhillon (Joint Secretary in the Commerce Ministry) to work with the Egyptian team in a time-bound manner on the terms of reference, that would potentially elevate our economic ties to the next level, both in terms of trade, investments and a much more comprehensive partnership, spanning many other areas like education," Goyal said here at the Joint Trade Committee meeting.

    The Egyptian side was chaired by Mohamed Farid Saleh, Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of Egypt.

    Terms of reference are broad contours for formally negotiating a trade agreement. A working group will be set up to decide on the ToR.

    The minister also said the two countries can increase cooperation in areas such as pharmaceuticals and Healthcare; engineering and automotive; agriculture; digitisation and fintech; and museums.

    Egypt is renowned for its rich cultural heritage and world-famous museums.

    To preserve and present this heritage, the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum is being developed as a landmark national cultural institution at the historic North and South Block Complex in New Delhi.

    Goyal added that the current bilateral trade is USD 6.5 billion, but "we need to be much more ambitious".

    Talking about increasing cooperation in the fintech sector, Goyal said Indian and Egyptian central banks are working to promote local-currency trade.

    He suggested linking the digital public infrastructure, UPI, with the Egyptian 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 added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)