President Al-Sisi of Egypt is Chief Guest at 74th Republic Day Celebrations in India

By Bhaskar Chakravorti

It was familiar to my ears to listen to Arabic language in the Indian National TV Channel. His Excellency President Abdel Fatha Al-Sisi of Egypt was speaking in New Delhi capital of India as the Chief Guest at the 74th Republic Day celebrations. This is his third visit to India. India went back 75 years to remember the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) movement where Former President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser and India’s First Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had played a pioneering role with a close relationship.
The chief guest of the Republic day is a ceremonial honour presented to the head of state of a country but its significance rises beyond purely the ceremonial. Such a visit can open new possibilities and go a long way in furthering India’s interests in the world. Marching down the Kartavya Path (earlier known as Rajpath) for the first time was the combined Band and Marching contingent of the Egyptian Armed Forces, led by Colonel Mahmoud Mohamed Abdel Fattah El Kharasawy. The contingent consists of 144 soldiers, representing the main branches of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Besides, President Al-Sisi’s delegation includes five ministers and officials.
Egypt is one of the nine countries invited to the G20 Summit in September’23 hosted by India in its Presidency. Both the countries have inked six MOUs in the fields of Communication and Technology; Cybersecurity; Information Technology; Culture; Youth Matters and Broadcasting. Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi envisages a strategic partnership with Egypt and achieve a bilateral trade to the tune of $ 12 Billion in the next five years.