Egypt to intensify India ties to counter extremist ideology: EAM Abdelatty

Egypt had warned the international community long ago about the challenges from the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) which is a fountainhead of terrorism globally, Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty told ET here on Friday.

MB has inspired terrorism and extremism globally and what is being felt in Europe today is a grim situation, Abdelatty said, adding that Cairo had warned about this long back.

Abdelatty was on a two-day visit to India for the maiden edition of the India-Egypt strategic dialogue that also focused on Indian investments in Egypt in a big way. "Egypt has put in place a deradicalisation programme for the youth and also has a programme for training Imams. The idea is to address the ideology of extremism and violence. A terrorist is a terrorist and he has no religion," he noted.

"We have a very, very successful story, and we are standing ready for our friends, including India to see this model which is based on a holistic approach, focusing not only on security approach, but also on the socio-economic approach to deal with the root causes, creating jobs, empowering young people. The most important issue here is fighting extremist ideology through training of young preachers, young Imams and the most notable Sunni institution in the world, Al-Azhar Sharif, is a key element in fighting extremist ideology. Al-Azhar Sharif stands ready to provide training to young preachers, and we have a very successful model called Azhar observatory... They have knowledge of Islam and they have linguistic skills of at least 12 foreign languages. They are surfing the internet, communicating with young people from all over the world, telling them, correcting their ideas about Islam -- an Islam of moderation, of tolerance, of coexistence," Abdelatty said.

On Gaza, Abdelatty stressed the need for a UNSC resolution for an international stabilisation force. "We have to start as soon as possible the discussions and negotiations about phase two and its implementations. We have to go quickly to the Security Council to issue a new resolution to endorse and identify the mandate of the International Stabilisation Force, ISF, which was stipulated in the Trump peace plan, and to identify the mission, mandate and formulation to be deployed, to monitor the implementation of the agreement and to see that the two sides are honouring their commitments."

He also referred to the Suez Canal Economic Zone as a major investment opportunity for Indian companies. "We have a special industrial zone for China in this region, and for Russia. We are also encouraging to have an Indian industrial zone alongside the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and we are providing all kinds of facilitations, all kinds of incentives to the Indian companies..."

The SCZONE is located around the main international maritime route of the Suez Canal passageway, which connects Europe, East and North Africa. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has instructed the government to provide a conducive environment and all facilities to Indian companies to do business, not only in traditional sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, minerals, especially phosphate and fertilizers, but also new sectors like digitalisation, application of artificial intelligence, renewable and clean energy.