The Egyptian government is negotiating with the Indian government to obtain loans to implement several projects through the credit line provided by India.

India’s Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said that the total value of the credit line is worth $10bn, including $4.5bn recently disbursed to several African countries.

Bhattacharyya told Daily News Egypt that the projects to be implemented include infrastructure and micro, small, and medium enterprises. He noted that the two sides have completed negotiations recently on the projects that will be established.

He added that the final agreement on the projects and the total funding will be finalised within four months, without disclosing further details.

In a related context, the Indian ambassador explained that the Egyptian government and parliament have worked well to improve the business environment in Egypt through recent economic reforms.

He said that the trade exchange between Egypt and India witnessed very large growth up until 2012, where bilateral trade value scored $5.5bn, before declining to $3.3bn at the end of last year. “This is less than the potential of the two countries,” he stated.

He pointed out that the decline in trade with Egypt is due to the decline in oil prices, in addition to the decline in world trade.