Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s forthcoming visit to India as the chief guest for the Republic Day on January 26 marks a continuity in the series of high level engagements between the two countries. The India-Egypt relations have been gaining momentum, particularly in the last one year. In October 2022 India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Egypt while India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited Egypt in September 2022. Back-to-back high level visits from India indicate Egypt regaining an important position in India’s foreign policy. India as the President of the G20 has invited Egypt to participate in the G20 Summit to be held later this year.

The year 2022 marked 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Egypt. The ties between the two-civilizational states, once sharing common objectives of anti-colonialism and non-alignment during the Nehru-Nasser era, went through a lull after Egypt reconciled with Israel in 1978 and India drifted towards Saudi Arabia and the UAE to secure energy supplies. However, the current geopolitical landscape is once again pushing India and Egypt closer. With Abraham Accords resetting the Arab world’s ties with Israel, India can now pursue its engagements in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region without concerns of balancing.

India’s accelerated outreach to Egypt is significant from at least four perspectives. First, deepening ties with Egypt is concomitant to India’s approach to the Indo-Pacific Region. As the geopolitical concept of the Indo-Pacific Region has occupied a vital space in the strategic discourse of countries across the world, India has its own vision for the region. India views eastern shores of Africa as a part of the Indo-Pacific Region. Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR) also complements India resetting its ties with Egypt.

Egypt’s strategic importance for the Indo-Pacific Region is underscored by the fact that Suez Canal is the connecting link between Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea which is an inlet of the Indian Ocean. Outreach to Egypt enhances India’s presence in the western Indian Ocean Region. Egypt being a dialogue partner of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), of which India is a member, allows both the countries to interact within an international institutional framework for the Indian Ocean Region.

Second, engagements with Egypt boosts India’s defence diplomacy. Besides, India’s strategic outreach to the Indo-Pacific Region is complemented by Egypt as defence has rapidly emerged as a major area of cooperation between the two countries. India’s Defence Minister Rajnath Singh’s visit to Egypt in September 2022 could be considered as a landmark event since both the countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to boost defence cooperation and enhance joint military exercises.

Egypt has shown interest in buying India’s indigenously manufactured Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas. Besides, Egypt is also keen on exploring the possibilities for joint defence production with India. In October 2021, the Indian Air Force and Egyptian Air Force held the first-ever Joint Tactical Air Exercise Desert Warrior. India’s Air Chief Marshal V.R. Chaudhari visited Cairo towards the end of 2021 while Egypt’s Air Force Chief Mahmoud Foaad Abd El-Gawad visited India early in 2022. In June 2022, INS Kochi, the largest destroyer in the Indian Navy, visited Port Safaga in Egypt and participated in maritime partnership exercise with the Egyptian Navy ships.  

India hosted India-Africa Defence Dialogue (IADD) on the sidelines of Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat on October 18. Egypt being one of the participants in the IADD further enhances the defence engagements between India and Egypt as well as India and Africa.

Third, non-traditional security is emerging as a major area of cooperation between India and Egypt. In November 2022, ReNew Power, India’s largest renewables company, and the Egyptian government signed a framework agreement. Under this agreement ReNew Power will invest $8 billion in a green hydrogen plant in Suez Canal. Apart from renewable energy, there is potential for India and Egypt to cooperate on counter-terrorism given the shared threats that both the countries face.

Fourth, India and Egypt are looking to expand their cooperation in trade and investments as well. Egypt has been one of India’s largest trading partners in Africa. India-Egypt trade was $7.26 billion in financial year 2021-2022 while India’s investments in Egypt are more than $3.15 billion. Dr. Jaishankar commented on India-Egypt trade ties quoting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi who said that a trade turnover of $7.26 billion was not enough that it is imperative to find ways to increase bilateral trade. A number of Indian companies are increasingly seeing Egypt as a favourable investment destination and exploring opportunities of business.

Stronger ties with Egypt complement India’s growing engagements with the Arab countries. Egypt’s unique geographical location facilitates its combining of multiple identities – Arab, Mediterranean and African country – implies India would gain in strategic and economic terms from greater engagements with Egypt. The upswing in India-Egypt relations indicates a promising partnership on which both should look to build upon.

Mr. Niranjan Marjani is a political analyst and researcher based in Vadodara, India.