Egypt and India Bolster Ties as Modi Makes First Cairo Trip

Facts

• Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi traveled to Egypt over the weekend to meet Egyptian Pres. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Cairo for a rare visit, during which both sides pledged to deepen ties and "signed a joint declaration to elevate relations to a strategic partnership."¹
• Modi said that he hopes India, Egypt's seventh-largest trading partner with $7B in trade last year, will increase its trade with Egypt to $12B annually. Before the visit, Egypt offered a potential "dedicated land area" for Indian industries in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.²
• Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly welcomed Modi after he finished a four-day trip to the US as the two inspected an honor guard and listened to the national anthems, with Modi thanking Madbouly on Twitter. This is an Indian Prime Minister's first visit to Egypt since 1997.³
• Modi also visited the Pyramid of Giza and the historic Al-Hakim mosque in Cairo, which was recently renovated with the help of the India-based Dawoodi Bohra community. Modi also paid tribute to Indian soldiers who died in World War I and are buried in the Heliopolis War Cemetery.⁴
• In a special gesture, Sisi bestowed Modi with the "Order of the Nile," the highest state honor of Egypt. Three Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) in the fields of agriculture, archaeology and antiquities, and competition law was also signed.⁵
• Multilateral cooperation at the G-20, which Egypt is attending as a "guest country" in September, and other topics like energy, food, and climate change were also discussed.⁵

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²DW, ³ABC News, ⁴Associated Press, and ⁵The Hindu.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Egypt Independent. Modi's visit to Egypt was a timely gesture to mark the country's growing ties. Egypt and India are both facing similar obstacles, and both Modi and Sisi have had similar tracks in politics. The Indian-Egyptian relationship will reap positive benefits for both countries, as the warm reception Modi received has shown the mutual desire for growth and cooperation.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by World Socialist Web Site. Besides the fact that Egypt is a repressive dictatorship under Sisi, it is poorly run, and its economic prospects are only going down. Inflation has been raging as food prices skyrocket. Sisi has been making desperate moves to fix the nightmare he has created, such as looking for foreign investment. However, the writing is on the wall: the future of Egypt under Sisi is not bright, and no amount of photo ops with Modi can change that.