New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday visited Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, Egypt. The 11th-century mosque, repaired with the help of the Dawoodi Bohra community, is an important cultural site for the community in Cairo.
Modi’s visit to the mosque holds symbolic as well as political relevance, as the Dawoodi Bohra community is considered a significant support base for the BJP.
Modi, who arrived in Cairo for a two-day state visit to Egypt on Saturday, also visited the Heliopolis war cemetery, earlier in the day.
He paid tributes to Indian soldiers who made supreme sacrifices during the First World War.
Modi’s trip to Egypt is expected to pave way for a substantial increase in India’s investment in the North African country and a ladder for Egypt to gain entry to the BRICS economic bloc.
This is his first visit to Egypt as Prime Minister and a first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the North African country since 1997.
IANS