Building the Future: Egypt & India Partner on AI Training, Digital Skills

Egypt and India are intensifying collaboration on artificial intelligence, digital skills and ICT investment, senior officials said, building on a series of memorandums of understanding and high‑level meetings since 2019. Meetings this year and last reviewed cooperation in offshoring, digital capacity building, startup support, cybersecurity, electronics manufacturing and joint training, while officials outlined plans to attract further Indian investment into Egypt’s ICT sector.

"Egyptian‑Indian ICT cooperation is expanding continuously," said Eng. Raafat Hendy, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, during a recent meeting with H.E. Suresh K. Reddy, Ambassador of India to Egypt. "Egypt’s strategic geographic position makes it an ideal regional hub for Indian companies looking to expand across Middle Eastern and African markets."

The renewed push follows a string of diplomatic and technical engagements. In October, the inaugural Egypt‑India Strategic Dialogue — co‑chaired by Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Badr Abdelatty and India’s Dr. S. Jaishankar — reviewed mechanisms to boost economic, trade and technology ties established during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Egypt in June 2023. President Abdel Fattah El‑Sisi’s role in that strategic outreach has been prominent: he was chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January 2023 and later used a visit to India on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in September 2026 to reaffirm commitments to local manufacturing, technology transfer and investment cooperation.

Officials point to concrete institutional links and agreements. In March 2024, Egypt’s Information Technology Institute (ITI) signed an MoU with India’s National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) covering curriculum exchange, shared training materials and mutual recognition of professional certifications. The agreement also provides shared access to virtual laboratories and the exchange of trainers and technical experts.

• MoU areas reviewed by ministers and ambassadors include e‑government, IT industry development, digital innovation and entrepreneurship, capacity building, electronics design and manufacturing, cybersecurity and emerging technologies.
• Discussions have explicitly targeted offshoring and local electronics manufacturing as priority sectors for new Indian investment into Egypt.
• Minister Hendy visited the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and explored joint applied research with Egypt’s Applied Innovation Center and academic collaboration with Egypt Informatics University.

Ambassador Suresh K. Reddy signalled Indian industry engagement, announcing that "India, currently the world’s second‑largest mobile phone manufacturer, will host a major global mobile industry conference in October." He highlighted India’s strengths in modern electronics and expanded public digital infrastructure, including fiber‑optic networks, as assets that can underpin deeper industrial and skills partnerships with Egypt.

Former ICT minister Dr. Amr Talaat and other officials have also prioritized incentivizing Indian firms to scale operations in Egypt’s offshoring and digital services sectors, pointing to a large, qualified youth talent pool. Officials expect the next wave of cooperation to emphasize applied research, joint curricula and certification recognition to accelerate workforce readiness for AI, cybersecurity and electronics manufacturing.

Looking ahead, the Egyptian and Indian governments plan to translate high‑level commitments into project‑level cooperation: joint training programs, expanded MoU implementation, and targeted investment incentives aimed at positioning Egypt as a regional hub for Indian ICT and electronics firms serving Middle Eastern and African markets.