President of Egypt to be chief guest at R-Day fete

New Delhi: Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January 2023. "This is the first time that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Sunday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to al-Sisi which was handed over to the Egyptian president by external affairs minister S Jaishankar on October 16.

Both countries are celebrating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations this year. Egypt has been invited as a 'Guest Country' during India's Presidency of G-20 in 2022-23, the statement said. "India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilisational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties," the statement said.