Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi will travel to be the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations for the first time ever in January 2023, India’s Ministry of External Affairs announced on Sunday.
“This is the first time that the president of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be the chief guest at our Republic Day,” the Indian ministry said in a statement.
Republic Day is national holiday celebrated annually to commemorate the adoption of the constitution of India on 26 January 1950.
Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
“India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilizational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties,” the statement said.
Egypt and India recorded their highest-ever bilateral trade of $7.26 billion during FY2021-22, up $4.5 billion in FY2019- 2020, according the Indian government figures.
Over 50 Indian companies are actively present in Egypt with total investment exceeding $3.15 billion in a range of sectors like manufacturing, chemicals, energy, infrastructure and retail, according to the Indian ministry.
According to Egypt's Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), India is Egypt’s third largest export market, sixth largest trading partner, and seventh largest importer.
India's Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry have agreed in a meeting in October in Cairo to increase trade and cooperation between their markets as well as the investments between them.
Source: Al-Ahram Online
