India and Egypt

Why in News?

• On the occasion of the 74th Republic Day, the President of Egypt was recently  invited as the chief guest at the parade, this is the first time that an Egyptian President has been accorded this honour.

Highlights

• During this year’s meeting, both India and Egypt agreed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a “strategic partnership”.
• The strategic partnership will have broadly four elements: political, defence, and security; economic engagement; scientific and academic collaboration; cultural and people-to-people contacts.
• India and Egypt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for three years to facilitate content exchange, capacity building, and co-productions between Prasar Bharati and the National Media Authority of Egypt.
• Under the pact, both broadcasters will exchange their programmes of different genres like sports, news, culture, entertainment on bilateral basis.
• The history of contact between India and Egypt, two of the world’s oldest civilisations, can be traced back to at least the time of Emperor Ashoka.
• Ashoka’s edicts refer to his relations with Egypt under Ptolemy-II.
• In modern times, Mahatma Gandhi and the Egyptian revolutionary Saad Zaghloul shared the common goal of independence from British colonial rule.
• The joint announcement of establishment of diplomatic relations at Ambassadorial level was made on 18 August 1947.
• India and Egypt signed a friendship treaty in 1955. In 1961, India and Egypt along with Yugoslavia, Indonesia and Ghana established the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
• In 2016, the joint statement between India and Egypt identified political-security cooperation, economic engagement and scientific collaboration, and cultural and people-people ties as the basis of a new partnership for a new era
• China’s bilateral trade with Egypt is currently at USD 15 billion, double that of India’s USD 7.26 billion in 2021-22. During the past eight years, the President of Egypt has traveled to China seven times to lure Chinese investments.
• Egypt, the most populous country in West Asia, occupies a crucial geo-strategic location — 12% of global trade passes through the Suez Canal and is a key player in the region.
• It Is a major market for India and can act as a gateway to both Europe and Africa. However, it also has bilateral trade pacts with important West Asian and African nations which is a cause of concern for India.