The decision to send the MoS was taken after Modi received a last-minute invitation Saturday from US President Donald Trump and Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to attend the summit in Egypt’s Sharm-el Sheikh. (@KVSinghMPGonda)
Gaza peace summit 2025: India has sent Kirti Vardhan Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs, as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the Gaza peace summit being held Monday at Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.
In a post on X Sunday night, Singh said,: “Arrived in the historic city of Cairo as special representative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the Gaza Peace Summit at Sharm el-Sheikh.”
The decision to send Singh was taken after Modi received a last-minute invitation Saturday from US President Donald Trump and Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to attend the summit at Sharm el-Sheikh.
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Sources told The Indian Express that the call to send Singh was taken in light of the fact that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also expected to be at the summit. Delhi did not want to take a chance on how the situation would unfold with Trump and Sharif at the same venue, sources said.
The invitation to Modi had raised expectations of a visit by the Prime Minister to Egypt, where he could have met Trump, but Delhi appears to be cautious at this stage.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres are also expected to attend the summit.
According to the spokesperson of the Egypt Presidency, the summit will be held Monday afternoon under the joint chairmanship of al-Sisi and Trump with the participation of leaders of more than 20 countries.
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“The summit aims to end the war in the Gaza Strip, strengthen efforts to establish peace and stability in the Middle East, and open a new page of regional security and stability,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“This summit comes in the light of US President Donald Trump’s vision to achieve peace in the region, and his relentless quest to end conflicts around the world,” it said.
Trump left for Israel and Egypt Sunday to mark the US-brokered ceasefire and hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, and urge partners in the Middle East to grab the opportunity to build durable peace in the region.
For India, the summit will be a chance to show its presence in the Middle East, demonstrate goodwill towards the Palestinian cause and boost bilateral relations with Egypt.
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After Israel and Hamas agreed to the ceasefire and hostage deal on October 9, Modi had said he spoke to his “friend” Trump and congratulated him on the “success of the historic Gaza peace plan”.
The agreement was the result of indirect talks held in Egypt, marking the initial stage of Trump’s 20-point framework to bring peace to the Palestinian enclave. The talks were held a day after the second anniversary of Hamas’s cross-border attack that triggered Israel’s military action in Gaza.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath.He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. … Read More
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