5 December 2006…. Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, is scheduled to travel to India during the period from 15 to 17 December, heading a delegation comprising of representatives of a number of ministries, governmental bodies and businessmen, to co-chair the Fifth Session of the Egyptian-Indian Joint Committee in New Delhi, with his Indian Counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee.               The session is scheduled to be held on 16 December 2006. This visit follows the Indian Foreign Minister’s assumption of his office on 25 October 2006, and constitutes an opportunity for communicating, continuing consultations and exchanging views between both countries on various bilateral issues, and international issues of common interest. The visit was preceded by the holding of the Sixth Session of Political Consultations between both countries on the level of Assistant Foreign Ministers, in Cairo, on 19 November 2006. The Egyptian and Indian sides are expected to conclude the Joint Committee Session by signing a number of draft agreements, memoranda of understanding, and executive programmes. Noteworthy is that Egyptian-Indian economic and commercial cooperation has notably increased during the last two years, where the trade volume amounted to $ 1532.3 million in 2005, exceeding that of 2004 by 41%. During the last three years, Egypt had a surplus in its trade balance with India, amounting to $ 466 million in 2005. Indian investments in the domestic investment projects and free-zones in Egypt reached about $ 626 millions, and are divided in 32 industrial, consultative, and service projects. The Indian investments in Egypt are expected to increase after the accomplishment of the Indian Agricultural Cooperative Association projects for farmers and fertilizers, the Asar company projects for establishing a steel production factory at Ein Sokhna, the ISGEC company projects to establish a molasses production factory in cooperation with the Arab Authority for Industrialization in ElMenia. The diversity of Egyptian-Indian cooperation fields is reflected in the intention of the Ministry of Culture to hold an Egyptian cultural week in India in 2007-2008, and hosting an Indian week in Egypt, as well as the recent visit of Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Dr. Tarek Kamel, to India to discuss means of cooperation and benefiting from the Indian expertise in the field of communication and information technology. It is also reflected in the intention of State Minister for Administration Development, Dr. Ahmed Darwish, to visit India on 7 December 2006 to exchange expertise in the field of administrative reform and E-government. The Fourth Session of the Egyptian-Indian Joint Committee was held in Cairo, in February 2001, and a mechanism for holding the Egyptian-Indian joint committees was established as stated in the agreement signed between the two countries in September 1983.