Egypt navigates Mecca pact, steps up ties with India

New Delhi: The Mecca Pact and its regional and wider implications figured on the agenda when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Sunday on the margins of the BRICS Summit, said people in the know.

The two leaders also discussed steps to widen the bilateral strategic partnership amid Egypt's decision against joining the defence pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan keeping Indian sensitivities in mind, among other factors.

New Delhi and Cairo will work to further widen their strategic partnership with Egypt as a key pillar of the Arab world, the people said. Egypt is a member of the BRICS, having joined the group in 2024.


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Egypt has so far steered clear of joining the Mecca Pact despite repeated suggestions from Turkey, as part of its strategy of not taking sides and in the backdrop of its growing ties with India.

Observers based in West Asia said the Mecca Pact's utility is limited as unlike NATO or the erstwhile Warsaw Pact there is no common enemy and a single leader among the three states. It is also unlikely that Saudi Arabia will come to Pakistan's rescue through military support in case of an Indo-Pak war.

Egypt, which has the most powerful military among the Arab states, has historically stayed away from bloc politics, maintaining its role as a pillar of stability in North and Northeast Africa. Cairo has a complex engagement with neighbouring Israel, with which it has diplomatic ties, and doesn't want to take sides between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.