India, Egypt to step up cooperation in sports, youth affairs

Union Sports Minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore today met his Egyptian counterpart Khaled Abd El Aziz and discussed ways to step up cooperation in the field of sports and youth affairs.
Singh, who is visiting the country to attend the World Youth Forum in which over 50 countries including India are participating, congratulated Egypt for qualifying for the FIFA World Cup 2018 in Russia.
Aziz praised the successful organisation of the FIFA World Cup Under-17 by India and expressed interest in Mission 11 Million (MXIM) football outreach programme.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi have met four times and taken the relationship to a new level, Singh said.

Aziz praised the Indian leadership for taking long-term decisions in a quick and decisive way after being briefed on the initiatives like Start up India, Mudra and Make in India.
"As two oldest civilisations, we need to forcefully implement the vision of our leaders for our youth. India is a nation of youngsters and we need to provide them an environment to realise their dreams," Singh said.

Aziz offered their centre of excellence like the Olympic Centre for short term training programme for Indian sports teams. Singh informed him about the decision of hiring Egyptian trainers and support staff for squash.

"We want to change the attitude towards sports among the Indians. We wish to make sports aspirational," said Singh who also asked the Egyptian Minister to encourage local students to enrol themselves in Indian universities.
He also thanked the Egyptian government for promoting strong people to people connect.
Sisi inaugurated the World Youth Forum (WYF) yesterday with the participation of more than 3,200 participants from different countries.
About 52 countries including India are participating in the forum.