Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday.

“This is the first time that the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt will be the Chief Guest at our Republic Day,” the MEA said in a statement.

Egypt has never been invited to India’s Republic Day so far since the first Republic Day celebration started in 1950. India has invited the maximum number of Republic Day guests from Asian countries (36), followed by Europe (24), Africa (11), South Africa (6), North America (2) and Oceania (1).

Egypt has traditionally been one of India’s most important trading partners in the African continent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sent a formal invitation to al-Sisi which was handed over to the Egyptian president by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on October 16.