Egypt, India discuss defense, technology cooperation on margins of BRICS meeting

CAIRO – 14 May 2026: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, discussed bilateral cooperation in various fields as they met on Thursday on the sidelines of the BRICS foreign ministers’ meeting.

The meeting explored ways to enhance cooperation in technology and innovation, as well as defense partnership, security cooperation in counterterrorism, and information exchange.

Abdelatty also discussed opportunities for cooperation in localizing industries linked to the green transition, including the manufacture of components for renewable energy and green hydrogen, as well as in the textiles and ready-made garments sector.

He encouraged Indian companies to expand their investments in Egypt, particularly in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, given its competitive incentives and access to regional and international markets.

BRICS is an intergovernmental bloc of major emerging economies and developing countries, originally founded by Brazil, China, India and Russia, and later expanded to include seven additional members to date, including Egypt.

The meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers, which takes place on Thursday and Friday, comes amid major economic challenges facing the global community due to the war in Iran and Middle East escalation.

The war has sent energy prices soaring, stalled global navigation and disrupted supply chains.

Addressing the BRICS session today, Abdelatty expressed Egypt’s aspiration to further strengthen economic cooperation among the bloc’s members and advance joint projects in energy, manufacturing, infrastructure and advanced technology.