India and Egypt: the 1955 Friendship Treaty and the Non-Aligned Movement

Background

India and Egypt announced the establishment of diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level on 18 August 1947. The friendship between President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India led to a Friendship Treaty between the two countries in 1955. Both countries were founding members of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961. In an earlier generation, Mahatma Gandhi and the Egyptian leader Saad Zaghloul shared goals on the independence of their countries. Ashoka's edicts refer to his relations with Egypt under Ptolemy II in the third century BC. The first round of the India-Egypt Strategic Dialogue, led by the foreign ministers, was held in Delhi in October 2025, and the fourteenth round of Foreign Office Consultations was held in Cairo in February 2026.