Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Sunday conferred with ‘Order of the Nile’ award, Egypt’s highest state honour. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi conferred the PM with the coveted award ahead of their bilateral meeting.

Both the leaders signed important memorandums of understanding (MoU) during their meeting. Modi’s state visit to the African country is the first by an Indian prime minister since 1997.

Earlier in the day, the prime minister visited the country’s 11th centry Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, which has been restored with the help of India’s Dawoodi Bohra community.

Modi was shown around the mosque whose latest restoration was completed three months ago. The mosque mainly performs Friday prayers and all five obligatory prayers. Al Hakim is the fourth oldest mosque in Cairo and the second Fatimid mosque to be built in the Egyptian capital. It covers an area of 13,560 square metres, with the iconic central courtyard occupying 5,000 square metres.

The Bohra community, which is settled in India, originated from the Fatimids. They renovated the mosque from 1970 onwards and have been maintaining it since then.

Later, the prime minister also paid a visit to the Heliopolis Commonwealth War Cemetery and offered tributes to the Indian soldiers who bravely fought and laid down their lives in Egypt and Palestine during the First World War.

Modi offered floral tributes and signed the visitor’s book at the Cemetery that comprises the Heliopolis (Port Tewfik) Memorial and the Heliopolis (Aden) Memorial.

The memorial commemorates nearly 4,000 Indian soldiers who died fighting in Egypt and Palestine in the First World War.