Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi attends 'At Home' reception in New Delhi

Earlier on Thursday, President El-Sisi attended India's 74th Republic Day parade as the chief guest. He is the first Egyptian premier to have been invited to the Republic Day parade.

Apart from President El-Sisi and PM Modi, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, former President Ram Nath Kovind, former Vice President Hamid Ansari, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, EAM S Jaishankar, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Union Ministers and other dignitaries were also present in the 'At Home' reception.

During the Republic Day Parade, a military contingent of the Egyptian Army marched towards the saluting dias on the Kartavya Path for the first time.

The Egyptian military contingent, led by Colonel Mahmoud Mohamed Abdel Fattah El Kharasawy and consisting of 144 soldiers, represented the main regiments of the Egyptian armed forces.

The Egyptian forces considered it an honour and privilege to participate in India's Republic Day parade.

The Egyptian contingent carried the legacy of one of the oldest regular armies known to humanity.

The history of the Egyptian army goes back to 3200 BC when King Narmer unified Egypt. The old Kingdom was considered to be the height of Egyptian civilisation. The modern Egyptian army was established during the rule of Muhammad Ali Pasha, who is widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. He formed an army with soldiers mainly conscripted from modern Egypt.

Earlier, PM Modi thanked the Egyptian President for gracing the Republic Day celebrations.

Taking to Twitter, PM Modi said, "I am grateful to President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi for gracing this year's Republic Day celebrations with his august presence.@AlsisiOfficial".

India and Egypt are celebrating 75 years of establishment of diplomatic relations this year. India has also invited Egypt as a 'guest country' during its G20 Presidency.

The visit of President El-Sisi is being seen in New Delhi's power corridors as one to bolster ties between India and Egypt and further deepen them.

India and Egypt have "warm and friendly relations marked by civilizational, cultural and economic linkages and deep-rooted people-to-people ties", according to the statement released by the Ministry of External Affairs. (ANI)