Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been invited as chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in January, the Ministry of External Affairs stated 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 MEA said in a statement.
The statement also announced that Egypt will be a “Guest Country” during India’s G-20 Presidency in 2022–2023.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to President Sisi. It was handed over to the Egyptian president by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 16.
Egypt and India both are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year.
“India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilisational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties,” the statement read.
Leaders of both countries have graced the Republic Day celebrations since 1950, when the then Indonesian President Sukarno was invited as the chief guest.
In 1952, 1953 and 1966, the Republic Day celebrations took place without a foreign leader as chief guest.
In 2021, the then British prime minister Boris Johnson was invited as the chief guest but his visit had to be cancelled due to the rising COVID-19 infections in Britain.
This year, India had invited leaders of the five Central Asian Republics, who were set to visit Delhi for the India-Central Asia Summit, as chief guests for the Republic Day celebrations.
However, the visit was cancelled due to increasing COVID-19 cases in India. The India-Central Asia Summit took place in the virtual format.
In 2018, the entire Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leadership involving 10 heads of state was present at the Republic Day parade.
In 2020, the then Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest for the celebrations.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama (2015), Russian President Vladimir Putin (2007), former French presidents Nicholas Sarkozy (2008) and Francois Hollande (2016) have also been chief guests at India’s previous Republic Day celebrations.
