Walk the talk like Egyptian-Indian ties

The India-Egypt relationship is historical and contemporary. It is now strengthened by shared political understanding to become a strategic partnership. This is at the core of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi‘s visit to New Delhi this week. Stronger ties come at a time of multiple global crises and when multilateralism is under strain. Egypt, too, faces a major economic crisis, including a food-related one. A strong India-Egypt partnership must be seen as part of an effort to repair the multilateral order.

With its G20 presidency, India is walking the talk about buttressing the global South and addressing its concerns. Egypt also occupies an interesting geographical sphere in West Asia as far as global security and anti-terrorism strategy is concerned. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussions with El-Sisi, this year’s Republic Day chief guest, on these matters were in addition to the symbolic addition of a military contingent from the Egyptian army in the R-Day parade.

Egypt’s connections with India have been strong from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) era. Egypt, under president Gamal Abdel Nasser, was one of the founding members of NAM. But much water has flowed down the Nile since the second NAM conference in 1964 in Sharm el-Sheikh, and the same location that played host to COP27 last year. Bilateral trade between India and Egypt increased five times in the last decade to $7.26 billion in 2021-22. Investment is another pillar, with Egypt looking towards India, particularly in major infrastructure projects in and around the Suez Canal, and special economic zones in Alexandria and Cairo. Defence procurement, partnerships in agriculture and addressing cybersecurity are other key sectors. Ancient links are being updated.