Confident of navigating his country’ s post-revolution transition, Egypt’s first elected President Mohamed Morsy arrived in India on Monday to anchor a special relationship and flag his country’s ambition of joining the ranks of the world’s “emerging countries.”
In an exclusive interview to The Hindu ahead of his first visit to India, Mr. Morsy visualised a “true partnership” with New Delhi that would boost the revival of Egypt’s economy, reinforce its security and institutionalise its fledgling democracy. “I am looking forward to a unique, strong, institutional and mutually beneficial relationship with India. For Indians, we can be a hub for North Africa and Africa as well,” the President said.
Sitting in his imposing presidential office in Cairo’s upscale Heliopolis district, Mr. Morsy expressed Egypt’s deep interest in joining the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) combine and turning the grouping into E-BRICS. “I am hoping BRICS would one day become E-BRICS where E stands for Egypt. I hope E-BRICS would emerge when we start moving the economy.” He lauded the proposal for the establishment of a BRICS bank that would “support countries to achieve high growth rates and supplement the role of the IMF, World Bank and similar institutions.”
Mr. Morsy expressed his strong opposition to the existence of a “unipolar world” and supported a stronger role for the Non Aligned Movement in order to “impart crucial balance and ensure comprehensive peace in today’s world.” “We cannot have a single pole dominating the world. NAM can be very effective in this regard, and I am going to test this with the leaders of India.”
