Republic Day 2023: President Sisi's visit strategically important for India-Egypt relations

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Published : Jan 23, 2023, 6:29 PM IST

Republic Day 2023: President Sisi's visit strategically important for India-Egypt relations

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi will visit India this week as the Chief Guest on the 74th Republic Day. ETV Bharat's Chandrakala Choudhary spoke to Harsh V Pant, Vice President, Studies and Foreign Policy, Observer Research Foundation on how important this visit is in the context of India-Egypt relations.

New Delhi: As Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is scheduled to come to a three-day visit to India as the Chief Guest on the 74th Republic Day, it is imperative that the visit is not merely decorative but its impact goes far beyond the corridors of diplomatic protocol.

Speaking to ETV Bharat, Harsh V Pant, Vice President, Studies and Foreign Policy, Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and an Indo-Pacific scholar said that both India and Egypt are strategically important and the geo-economics and geo-political equations of the South-East Asian nations are bringing the two countries closer to each other.

"India wants to revive relations with Egypt in the context of the 21st-century requirements. The geo-economics and geo-political equations are bringing India and Egypt closer and the Egyptian President's visit is an indicator that both sides are taking the bilateral relations seriously today," Pant said.

"Hopefully, this will impart new dynamism to the economic relationship which is not up to the mark at the moment. Both countries want to be independent of pressure from stakeholders like the West and Russia. This is again at the time when both sides can learn and accommodate each other's concerns”, he added.

The invite to the Egyptian President is an indication of the growing bilateral relationship between the two countries in the last 10 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Cairo in August 2015 while El-Sisi was in India for the India-Africa Forum in October 2015 and on a bilateral state visit in September 2016. The two leaders had also spoken over the phone in 2020. Apart from this, Egypt has been invited as a guest country for the G20 summit that will be held in India later this year.

There also have been several exchanges at the minister level, including the visit of the Indian Defence Minister and External Affairs minister last year to Egypt. In terms of defence cooperation, the two countries have robust military cooperation. When it comes to the exercises, IAF or the Indian Air Force participated in the first-ever joint exercise in Egypt.

Also read: EAM Jaishankar calls on Egyptian President Sisi; hands over personal message from PM Modi

Referring to these incidents when the two countries came towards each other, Pant said, “India Egypt is trying to revive a relationship that has the historical context of non-alignment as the backdrop but has been in limbo for a while. Both India and Egypt were founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement and historically, they have led developing countries and spoken on their behalf in the international order."

Pertinently, the first-ever joint exercise between the special forces of the Indian Army and the Egyptian Army named ‘Exercise Cyclone-I’ has accelerated the strategic importance of the two countries. The exercise, which will boost defence cooperation between the two countries, is underway in Jodhpur.

“The Defence ties are growing extremely fast. Egypt is making a case for a more robust economic partnership with India, realizing India’s economic rise and also trying to diversify its relationships. India on the other hand is also looking at the West Asian security architecture through a different light, and has a very strong relationship with countries with UAE, the Middle East and certainly Egypt as one of the pillars of the region is viewed as important by India”, said Pant.

The deepening of defence cooperation is also expected to be discussed during the Egyptian leader’s visit. Egypt has also shown some interest in purchasing Tejas light combat aircraft with officials from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in touch with the Egyptian side for more discussions.

The diplomatic bonding between the two countries strengthened after this nation from the Middle East backed India on the Kashmir issue. In forums like OIC or Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Egypt has never supported Pakistan. Islamabad has frequently raked up the Kashmir issue in the organisation. On security and counter-terrorism cooperation, there is a joint working group between India and Egypt and the next meeting of the joint committee is scheduled for next month after the Egyptian President’s visit.

"Keeping that in mind, India and Egypt relations have become a very important anchor for stability in the Middle East and India certainly would look at Egypt through that light. Egypt is beginning also to recapture some of the old glory of India, Egypt relationship", added Pant.

It is important to note that Bilateral trade between India and Egypt achieved a record high of USD 7.26 billion in FY 2021-22. The trade was fairly balanced, with USD 3.74 billion in Indian exports to Egypt and USD 3.52 billion in imports from Egypt to India.

More than 50 Indian companies have invested around USD 3.15 billion in diverse sectors of the Egyptian economy, including chemicals, energy, textile, garment, agri-business, retail and in other sectors too. The forthcoming visit of President Sisi is expected to further strengthen and deepen the time-tested partnership between India and Egypt.

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