Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi – Chief Guest of Republic Day

January 22, 2023

Every republic day and independence day celebration, India invites chief guests from different countries. Earlier, that is, between the 1950s and 1970s, India invited chief guests from the Eastern Blocs and NAM. However, the trend has now changed. We are now inviting our close trade partners and allies to the celebrations. This year, in 2023, India invited the Egyptian President.

Why the Egyptian President?

Recently, the ties between India and Egypt have been growing strongly. The following events prove the point:

5^th India – Egypt Joint Trade Committee meeting held in late 2022. Trade between India and Egypt increased by 75% in the past year
Egypt in 2020-21 became one of the largest investment destinations of India. The Indian investments in the country amount to 3 billion USD
Defense ties between the countries are growing stronger. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited the country in 2022 and signed an MoU
Cyclone I military exercise was recently conducted between India and Egypt
Egypt agreed to import wheat from India in 2022

Previous Chief Guests and Analysis

US President Barack Obama was the chief guest in 2015
In 2018, India invited many such as Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and South Africa. Around this period, India was actively implementing the Look East Policy. India strived hard to use the North East region as a pathway to increase its trade with South Asian countries. And thus, these countries were invited to the celebrations that year.
2019: South Africa
2020: Brazil
2021, 2022: None due to COVID

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