President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi’s upcoming visit to India as chief guest on Republic Day (on 26 January) is an honour Delhi has granted very few leaders, and it confirms the growing strategic ties between two of the world’s oldest civilisations.
In recent history, when the two countries had just gained their independence from colonial British rule in 1947 and 1956, together with Indonesia and the former Yugoslavia Egypt and India pioneered the Non-Alignment Movement in 1955.
The late president Gamal Abdel-Nasser and the late Indian prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru were not just political allies, but legendary personal friends who consulted closely on how to protect the interests of dozens of newly independent countries in an extremely polarised world. Seen as independence champions, they were both strongly opposed to the idea that nations that fought hard for their freedom and to gain control over their own resources usurped by colonialists, should be abused in proxy wars between the two superpowers of the time.
However, many world changes have taken place since that era, including the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, and the short-lived emergence of the United States as a sole global superpower. Two failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with the rising economic power of China, Russia and India have quickly ended that illusory notion of the end of history and the dominance of the United States over global affairs. A multi-polar world in which major world powers are competing is the current reality that all nations have to deal with.
Right now, India is no longer seen as a mostly poor, Third World country whose population is in dire need to meet its basic demands. On the contrary, India has achieved great strides in confirming its stand as a major economic global power, joining the G-20, and is soon expected to be the world’s third largest economy after the United States and China.
President Al-Sisi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power around the same time in 2014. Since then, there has been a major improvement in ties between the two countries based on current mutual and strategic interests, while benefiting from the historic ties between the two countries marked by respect and appreciation of their regional and international influence.
President Al-Sisi has been keen on strengthening ties with India, visiting twice the Indian capital in 2015 and 2016, and holding several friendly meetings with Indian Modi at international events they both attended.
The Indian premier was due to visit Egypt in 2020, marking his first visit since taking office. Yet the visit was postponed due to Covid-19 restrictions at the time. The Egyptian leader will certainly renew the invitation to this long awaited visit by Modi to Cairo during his upcoming meeting with the Indian prime minister next week.
Along with adopting similar diplomatic stands on key world issues, Al-Sisi and Modi have sought to strengthen ties on political, economic and security issues. When India faced a shortage in Covid-19 vaccines, Egypt dispatched three military planes to Delhi in the framework of their long-standing friendship. To reciprocate, India rushed to provide Egypt with wheat after the fall in imports from Russia and Ukraine after war broke out between the two neighbours nearly a year ago.
To prepare for the upcoming visit by Al-Sisi to India, in September and October Cairo welcomed both the Indian defence and foreign ministers. Considering that both Egypt and India have a strategic interest to maintain security and stability in the Arab Gulf and the Red Sea, defence cooperation has been on top of the agenda, culminating in conducting joint air force exercises, known as Desert Warrior. During the visit by India’s defence minister to Egypt, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on joint military production, making use of the long experience of both countries in this field.
Meanwhile, and over the course of the last year alone, bilateral trade between the two countries has grown by almost 75 per cent, reaching over $7 billion. Following recent, major economic reforms carried out by Egypt in order to cope with the global economic crisis caused by Covid-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine, the door is open to Indian companies to invest in Egypt in many fields, particularly in the promising Suez Canal Economic Zone, as well as in green energy. One Indian company has already signed an agreement to set up a green hydrogen facility in Suez worth $8 billion.
Any Indian investments in Egypt in the fields of petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, agribusinesses, building materials, electric batteries, tyres and automobiles, textiles and garments, and green hydrogen will not only benefit from its strategic location and resources, but also reach many world continents through free trade agreements Egypt has signed with Arab countries, Africa, Europe and Latin America.
While ties between Egypt and India are on the right track, Al-Sisi’s visit to Delhi next week will certainly help put an age-old partnership between two nations on a solid trajectory.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 19 January, 2023 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.
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