Al Ahram, p.10, (12/8/2007)
60 years of Egyptian-Indian relations
By: Mahmoud Morad
This month marks the 60th anniversary of the initiation of diplomatic and political relations between Egypt and India. It is one of the oldest ties linking this major Asian country with another country. What makes such relations strong is that the unofficial ties have started century before the official beginning of diplomatic ties.
Historical documents revealed that the two countries contacted each other at the reign of Queen Hatshepsut, who sent three expeditions to discover the world, one of them went to Punt (Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea), the other went to Latin America and the third reached the Indian subcontinent.
The two civilizations shared knowledge; trade exchange has been conducted since that time. The Egyptian folkloric art reveals stories about the "silk road" and we can notice the impact of the Egyptian civilization on the Indian religions and guru teachings. Some Indian thinkers, including the great Indian scholar Abul Kalam Azad, referred to the interactions and influences between Egypt and India.
In the second decade of the twentieth century, when a young man called Gandhi was taking his first steps in his struggle against the British occupation, he read about the struggle of the Egyptian people led by Saad Zaghloul. The two men exchanged letters so that they can cooperate in their struggle against the joint enemy but the communication and contact mechanisms at that time did not enable them to do so.
Years went by and the Egyptian revolution took place in July 23, 1952 and relations between Egypt and emerging India got stronger. During the nationalization of the Suez Canal and the 1965 war against Egypt, India played a pivotal role in the attempts aiming at defending Egypt. The then Indian Minister of External Affairs made shuttle visits to concerned capitals.
Then relations became strong between Nasser and Nehru. Each of them related to the other his dreams about the progress of his country. They made it a point to strengthen the cultural, economic and industrial ties between the two countries especially in the field of heavy industries. Egypt manufactured the jet engine of the plane H-300 and India manufactured its body. The plane was assembled in Egypt and made a successful pilot flight before officials from both countries.
In the seventies, relations between the two countries receded for two important reasons:
The first is that the former President Anwar El Sadat called on the then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi before the 1973 October war to provide him with spare parts for the Meg jetfighters; Indira Gandhi refused because India's arms importation agreement with Russia prevents it to provide imported arms to a third party. Sadat got very angry.
The second reason is that, following October war, the US decided to destroy the Egyptian-Indian relations; the then US Secretary of State Henry Kiesinger said that the Non-Aligned Movement should come to an end.
Tepid relations between the two countries continued. A third country played a part in marring relations between the two countries. I remember that I visited India six years ago upon an invitation from one of the Indian universities and one of the important political centers in India organized an international symposium on terrorism. During my presence there, I organized a symposium for Al Ahram in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs with the participation of the First Undersecretary of the Ministry of External Affairs and some professors and experts. The topic of the symposium was "Egyptian-Indian ties". I was astonished that the Indian side did not know the truth about what is going on in Egypt.
I published an article about this in Al Ahram and the then Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa got shocked and sent his Assistant for Asian Affairs to give correct information and to explain the Egyptian policy.
Exchange of visits took place in recent years but I believe that the relations between the two countries have not reached the level aspired to; India is a pivotal country in South East Asia and Egypt is an important country in the Arab world, Africa and the Islamic world. The strength of the Egyptian-Indian relations is one of the beneficial factors for the developing countries.