Since 1950, when Sukarno, the then-president of Indonesia, was invited as the principal guest, leaders of friendly countries have attended India’s Republic Day celebrations.
Republic Day Chief Guest in 2023
The Republic Day festivities will be held in January 2023, and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt will be the special guest. For the first time ever, our Republic Day celebrations will include the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt as the chief guest.
On October 16, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar presented Egyptian President al-Sisi with a formal invitation that had been conveyed to him by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the two nations’ establishing of diplomatic ties. Egypt has been asked to participate as a ‘Guest Country’ during India’s G-20 Presidency in 2022–2023. Based on centuries-old, strong inter-human relationships, India and Egypt have cordial and amicable relations.
When Republic Day festivities weren’t attended by a foreign head;
The Republic Day celebrations were held without a foreign leader as the primary guest in 1952, 1953, and 1966. Boris Johnson, the then-prime minister of Great Britain, was invited as the principal guest in 2021, but his trip had to be cancelled because to the country’s increasing COVID-19 cases. For the ceremonies of Republic Day this year, India invited the heads of the five Central Asian Republics, who were scheduled to travel to Delhi for the India-Central Asia Summit. However, due to an increase of COVID-19 cases in India, the visit was postponed. The summit between India and Central Asia was conducted online.
Previous Republic Day chief guests
Ten heads of state from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) attended the Republic Day parade in 2018 as a group. The head of guests in 2020 was Jair Bolsonaro, who was president of Brazil at the time. Former French presidents Nicholas Sarkozy (2008), Francois Hollande (2016), former US president Barack Obama (2015), former Russian president Vladimir Putin (2007), and former US president George W. Bush (2004) have all attended Republic Day ceremonies as the primary guests.
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