India – Egypt Bilateral Relationship

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt recently agreed to elevate the India-Egypt bilateral relationship to a “strategic partnership”.

At least since the reign of Emperor Asoka, relations between Egypt and India, two of the world’s oldest civilizations, have existed.
In modern times, Mahatma Gandhi and the Egyptian rebel Saad Zaghloul had similar aspirations for freedom from British colonial authority.
Three days after India gained her independence, the two countries jointly announced the formation of ambassadorial-level diplomatic ties.
President Gamal Abdel Nasser and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru shared a close connection, and in 1955, India and Egypt forged a friendship treaty. The Non-Aligned Movement was founded in 1961 by Nehru and Nasser, Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia, Sukarno of Indonesia, and Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (NAM).

India sees Sisi’s Egypt as a moderate Islamic voice among Muslim-majority countries and as a “friend” within the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a 57-nation Islamic alliance that frequently issues statements denouncing India’s Jammu & Kashmir policy and the situation of Muslims in the nation at Pakistan’s behest.
In June 2022, the Cairo administration declined to join at least 15 other nations in denouncing India’s political leader’s remarks about the Prophet.
This decision was a significant indicator of Egypt’s evolving awareness of India’s predicament.

Over the past few years, Egypt’s economy has been in complete disarray.
It was severely damaged by the pandemic’s collapse in tourism, and the Russia-Ukraine war has hurt its foreign exchange reserves and affected its food supply (almost 80% of Egypt’s grain comes from these two nations).
India had permitted shipments of 61,500 metric tonnes of wheat to Egypt last year despite limits on the export of wheat.
Egypt has requested infrastructure investments from India, including funding for metro systems in Cairo and Alexandria, a second Suez Canal channel, a Suez Canal economic zone, and a new administrative centre in a Cairo suburb.
Over 50 Indian businesses have made more than $3.15 billion in investments in Egypt.

Source The Hindu

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