Sisi to attend India-Africa meet

 Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi would visit India for the first time to attend the third India-Africa Forum Summit, ending weeks of speculations about his absence in India’s biggest diplomatic show since 1983.

Sisi would also discuss ways to boost bilateral ties and increase investment, especially in the ambitious Suez Canal project, presidential spokesperson Alaa Youssef has confirmed in Cairo.

In the last couple of months, Indian diplomats were engaged in hectic parleys with their Egyptian counterpart, after it was indicated that Sisi might not be able to attend the summit because of other commitments.

The uncertainty about Sisi’s participation was considered a dark cloud hanging over the four-day diplomatic extravaganza, as New Delhi was keen to have him on the dais for the summit because Egypt under Gamal Abdel Nasser and India under Jawaharlal Nehru were the two key partners to form the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in the 1960s.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally invited Sisi when they met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September. The invite was again conveyed by three ministers — Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi — to Sisi in July and August but each time the response was lukewarm.

Twice in the last two years, the Modi government did not respond to Egypt’s invite to attend important engagements despite expressing initial interests.

India was represented only by an official at the Cairo International Conference on pledging financial support for the reconstruction of Gaza in October 2014, though foreign minister Sushma Swaraj showed interest initially.

The Modi ministers also missed the Economic Development Conference in March 2015 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh though heads of states or governments from 18 African, Asian and European nations participated in the conference.

During his maiden visit to India, Egypt’s former army chief Field Marshal Sisi will meet President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a number of officials and businessmen.

He would also seek fresh investment in the new Suez Canal project that was inaugurated in August. The 72-km proposed channel would run along the existing canal connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. It is aimed at speeding up the traffic along the existing waterway by reducing the waiting period of vessels.