India has had no Republic Day Chief Guest for the past two years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi will be the Chief Guest at India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2023 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on Sunday.

Significantly, Egypt is one of the nine guest countries at the G-20 in 2022–2023 under India's Presidency.

This is the first time that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt will attend India’s Republic Day as the chief guest.

The development is also significant because both nations marked the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year.

The invitation to the Egyptian President is also significant because India has had no Republic Day Chief Guest for the past two years owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 2020.

"India and Egypt enjoy warm and friendly relations based on civilizational and deep-rooted people-to-people ties," the MEA pointed out.