Egypt moves east

President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi visited India, Azerbaijan, and Armenia from 24 to 29 January. While Al-Sisi’s visit to India was the third since he came to office in 2014, his trips to Azerbaijan and Armenia were the first for an Egyptian president since the two countries gained independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

Al-Sisi’s visits to the three countries were welcomed in Cairo’s political and economic circles as historic and reflecting a need for Egypt to shift the focus in its foreign relations in favour of going east more to reinforce relations with Asian countries rather than limiting the scope to Western Europe and the United States.