5 active areas of cooperation, as of July 2026. Click any card for the full brief.
01 STRATEGIC & POLITICAL DEEP
From NAM to Strategic Partnership India-Egypt political ties have historic depth. The friendship between Jawaharlal Nehru and Gamal Abdel Nasser — who co-founded the Non-Aligned Movement at the Bandung Conference in 1955 and convened the first NAM Summit in Belgrade in 1961 — gave the bilateral relationship an ideological and personal foundation that ran deep into the Cold War era. India was among the very first countries to recognise Egypt's nationalisation of the Suez Canal in 1956 and stood with Egypt during the Suez Crisis, cementing a bond of solidarity.
The relationship evolved through changing Egyptian governments — from Nasser through Sadat, Mubarak, Morsi, and el-Sisi — with India maintaining consistent engagement across political transitions. PM Modi's historic visit to Cairo in June 2023 — the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 26 years — declared a Strategic Partnership and elevated bilateral ties across defence, trade, culture, and people-to-people dimensions, with 13 agreements and MoUs signed.
Egypt's accession to BRICS in January 2024, alongside the UAE, Ethiopia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, placed India and Egypt in the same expanded multilateral grouping for the first time, adding a new institutional layer to what had already been a warm political relationship. The two countries consult regularly on regional and global issues including Middle East stability, African development, and reform of the international financial architecture.
NAM STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
Read brief → 02 DEFENCE & SECURITY ACTIVE
Growing defence industrial cooperation Defence cooperation between India and Egypt has grown significantly in recent years. Egypt operates one of the largest militaries in the Middle East and Africa, and India's growing defence export programme — including systems like the Tejas light combat aircraft, BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, and various naval platforms — has found Egypt as an interested interlocutor.
The two countries signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement, and Egyptian military officials have visited Indian defence exhibitions and factories. Egypt has been identified as a potential buyer of Indian defence systems under India's ambitious defence export targets ($5 billion by FY2025), and joint production discussions have been held on small arms, ammunition, and electronic warfare systems.
Maritime security cooperation is also developing, given Egypt's control of the Suez Canal and its interest in Red Sea and Mediterranean security. India and Egypt have conducted joint naval exercises (Cleopatra and Cyclone series) and the Egyptian Navy has been one of the African navies with which India has maintained sustained operational engagement. As Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping intensified from late 2023, the India-Egypt maritime security dialogue gained new urgency.
03 TRADE & ECONOMY DEEP
Pharmaceuticals, textiles, and Suez Canal access Bilateral trade between India and Egypt has been growing and reached approximately $7.6 billion in FY2022–23, making Egypt one of India's most significant African trade partners. India's exports to Egypt are led by pharmaceuticals, textiles, engineering goods, machinery, chemicals, and petroleum products, while Egypt exports raw cotton, phosphates, chemicals, fertilisers, and crude petroleum to India.
India is one of Egypt's largest pharmaceutical suppliers, with Indian generic drug companies holding significant market share in Egypt's healthcare system. Egypt's regulated drug market and large population make it one of India's most important African pharmaceutical export destinations. Indian IT companies including Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys have explored Egyptian market entry and delivery operations as Egypt develops its technology sector.
The Suez Canal is economically vital to India: approximately 30% of India's external trade by value passes through the Canal, and Egypt's management of this waterway — including the 2021 New Suez Canal expansion and the 2021 Ever Given grounding that highlighted canal vulnerability — is of direct commercial significance to India. The India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), announced at the G20 New Delhi Summit in September 2023, routes through Egypt's part of the Mediterranean, reinforcing Egypt's connectivity value to India.
SUEZ CANAL PHARMA EXPORTS
Read brief → 04 CULTURE & PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE ACTIVE
Ancient civilisations, diaspora, and tourism India and Egypt share the distinction of being among the world's oldest continuous civilisations, and cultural diplomacy has been a consistent strand of the bilateral relationship. Egypt's pyramids and monuments draw Indian tourists in growing numbers, and India's heritage sites — Taj Mahal, Varanasi, Ajanta and Ellora — attract Egyptian visitors, though volumes remain modest compared to European and Gulf tourist flows.
The Indian community in Egypt numbers approximately 50,000, comprising primarily business professionals, engineers, IT workers, and members of longstanding trading families. Indian physicians, academics, and Bollywood films have a significant presence in Egyptian cultural life, and the Indian Cultural Centre in Cairo runs regular programmes including Hindi language classes, Yoga sessions, and classical arts performances.
India-Egypt academic cooperation has been growing, with ICCR scholarships for Egyptian students to study in India and Egyptian universities entering academic exchange agreements with Indian institutions. The two countries' shared interest in archaeological preservation and heritage management — both are UNESCO World Heritage Site hubs — has been an area of cultural diplomacy interest.
~50K DIASPORA CULTURAL CENTRE
Read brief → 05 MULTILATERAL ACTIVE
BRICS membership and global governance Egypt's accession to BRICS in January 2024 — alongside Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — was a major expansion of the grouping that India helped shape and lead. India and Egypt are now fellow BRICS members, with shared interest in reforming the global financial architecture, strengthening South-South cooperation, and ensuring that the voices of developing countries are heard in institutions like the IMF and World Bank.
Within BRICS, India and Egypt have aligned interests in several areas: pushing for SDR reform and de-dollarisation discussions, strengthening the New Development Bank's capital base, and expanding South-South technology and development cooperation. Egypt's geographic position bridging Africa, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean means it is a key node in the BRICS+ connectivity discussions that have gained prominence since the grouping's expansion.
Beyond BRICS, India and Egypt cooperate in the G77+China bloc, the African Union frameworks relevant to India's Africa engagement, and the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), of which Egypt is a member. The Non-Aligned Movement heritage, though less institutionally significant today, continues to inform a shared disposition toward multipolarity and strategic autonomy that both governments articulate as national foreign policy principles.
BRICS NEW DEVELOPMENT BANK
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