India and Egypt are expected to deepen their cooperation in the space sector following the bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The two countries have elevated their bilateral relations to ‘Strategic Partnership’ over the weekend and includes further strengthening of cooperation in space and other sectors too.
In 2019 Egypt established Egyptian Space Agency (EgSA) and New Delhi and Cairo have agreed on a new MoU which is in the process of being firmed up and will include EgSA and other developments in the sector.
Space cooperation is an emerging area of cooperation between the two countries and the two countries had Joint Working Group meetings and discussions between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS).
During a special briefing in New Delhi following the talks between the two leaders, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told Financial Express Online: “In the field of space there is an enormous capacity which is available in the Indian context. There could be possibilities of building satellites, launch capabilities, building payloads, and integrating the payloads with the launch capabilities.”
Both countries already have a joint working group in the field of space cooperation following a MoU signed in 2008.
And going forward, the foreign secretary added that those capacities will find a very substantive link, both in the scientific domain but also in the commercial space for cooperation in the field of space.
In a joint statement issued at the end of talks on Thursday (Jan 26, 2023) the two leaders have agreed to expand cooperation in the field of space research in areas like space science, satellite communication, and practical applications of space technology. And have agreed to expand cooperation in the field of space by utilizing India’s expertise in building and launching satellites and space technology applications.
For economic growth and innovation the two leaders underscored the importance of an open, safe, stable, free, trusted, accessible and accountable cyberspace.
In light of the emerging security challenges the two countries also reaffirmed a multi-stakeholder approach to internet governance. Both countries have also signed a MoU on Cooperation in the area of Cyber Security.
The Egyptian agency is looking for training and capacity building, satellite subsystems, use of Artificial Intelligence in space related projects, developing some accurate and advanced applications in space.