23 June 2007… Assistant Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs, Ambassador Shawki Ismail, is currently on a visit to India to conduct a new round of political consultations between both Foreign Ministries. This visit comes within the framework of Ambassador Ismail’s tour in the south Asian region. During the visit, Ambassador Ismail met with the Indian Minister of Foreign Affairs and delivered a written message to him from Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit. In his message, Aboul Gheit expressed interest in promoting bilateral relations on all levels, whether political, economic or cultural; he also invited his Indian counterpart to visit Egypt to continue the consultative relations and fruitful dialogue between both sides. The Indian Foreign Minister expressed his gratitude and hope to hold another meeting between both ministers. He also commended Egypt’s axial and vital role in the Middle East. The Assistant Foreign Minister also met with the Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and the Indian Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process. The Indian side was keen on listening to the Egyptian viewpoints regarding the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. Both the Egyptian and Indian sides agreed in their viewpoints concerning the importance of supporting the Palestinian legitimacy and the need to push the Peace Process in the region towards a final settlement. The political consultations with senior officials from the Indian Foreign Ministry tackled the level of bilateral relations, and both sides expressed satisfaction with the exponential progress being witnessed in these relations, where the existing fruitful political dialogue is being continued. The economic relations between both countries are also witnessing similar progress, and commercial exchange has amounted to $1.6 billion, and the Indian investments in Egypt, which have reached approximately one billion dollars in 2006, are continuously growing. The consultations also tackled several international and regional issues of common interest, which included the situation in Iraq, Lebanon, and Darfur, as well as the Iranian nuclear file and Afghanistan, and both sides showed a general consensus in their viewpoints regarding these issues.