Ahamed on Wednesday met Mohamed Badie, General Guide (Chairman) of Muslim Brotherhood, during his brief halt in Cairo on the way to the Non-Aligned Movement conference in Sharm al-Sheikh. He briefed the Muslim Brotherhood leader on India-Egypt bilateral relations, including economic ties.
Ahamed reiterated India`s support to Egypt`s ongoing process of democratic transition manifested in the number of high-level political visits to Egypt since January 2011. This was India`s second high-level contact with Brotherhood which is set to dominate the post-Mubarak political landscape of Egypt.
Earlier in March, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna established first contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood when he met Mohamed Morsy, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood`s political arm the Freedom and Justice Party.
During his meeting with Badie, Ahamed pointed out that the total bilateral trade between the two countries was around USD 3.2 billion and investment from India to Egypt was more than USD 2.5 billion.
Badie in turn expressed his admiration for India`s democratic and development experience, its progress in Science and technology especially Information Technology.
Referring to India and Egypt as two ancient civilizations, Ahamed called for further enhancement of bilateral relations which would show the world how the two civilizations develop relations through dialogue. Regional issues of mutual concern were also discussed in the meeting which lasted more than an hour and was characterised by warmth and cordiality.