All neighbours except Pakistan and Afghanistan invited; PM to have a packed foreign travel agenda, starting with the G-7 outreach being hosted by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on June 13-14
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will arrive in Delhi on Saturday, the first of the foreign dignitaries from the neighbourhood invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday evening.
According to sources, Ms. Hasina, who is due to land around noon will arrive a day earlier than the rest, as Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay would arrive on Sunday morning and Nepal PM P.K. Dahal “Prachanda” later in the day. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is expected to attend the swearing-in, accompanied by a large delegation including senior Ministers.
The decision to invite regional countries mirrors Mr. Modi’s outreach to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in 2014 and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries in 2019. This time, officials say the government is focusing on India’s close “neighbours and the Indian Ocean Region”, with invitations being extended to leaders of countries like Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, who were invited both the previous times. However, leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan were only invited in 2014, and ties with both countries have subsequently deteriorated over a number of issues. All the leaders will attend the swearing-in on Sunday evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt, and subsequently attend a reception that evening. On Monday, officials are working on schedules for call-ons by the External Affairs Minister and bilateral meetings with Mr. Modi and the visiting dignitaries.
The new government will also have a packed foreign travel agenda in the weeks ahead, with the Prime Minister expected to fly to Italy to attend the G-7 outreach being hosted by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on June 13-14, where he will meet U.S. President Joe Biden, and leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, Canada, EU and Japan. According to officials, Mr. Modi would not accept the invitation from Switzerland to attend the peace summit on June 14, but India will participate at a “senior” level. In addition, Mr. Modi will be in Kazakhstan on July 3-4 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Astana, due to be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, and leaders from Central Asia, Turkey and Iran. All eyes will also be on where Mr. Modi will make his first bilateral visit abroad in his third term: in 2014, he travelled to Bhutan and Nepal, and in 2019 to Maldives and Sri Lanka.
As The Hindu had reported earlier this week, Ms. Hasina, who was re-elected in January has been keen to schedule her visit to Delhi as her first destination abroad, before travelling to Beijing in July. In an interview to The Hindu last month, Mr. Tobgay had confirmed that he would visit India shortly after the government was formed, in order to take forward a number of India-Bhutan bilateral agreements, including discussions on Bhutan’s plans for the new Gelephu “mindfulness city” project and India’s support for Bhutanese development projects. Mr. Tobgay and Mr. Modi have already exchanged visits to Delhi and Thimphu in February and March this year. Mr. Muizzu’s visit would be his first to India since tensions of the past few months over the public “India Out” and “Boycott Maldives” campaigns and his insistence on the withdrawal of Indian troops from the southern atolls, and there could be a chance for the two sides to pick up threads of seemingly frayed bilateral ties.
Sheikh Hasina to be first of foreign leaders to arrive for Modi’s swearing-in
All neighbours except Pakistan and Afghanistan invited; PM to have a packed foreign travel agenda, starting with the G-7 outreach being hosted by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on June 13-14
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will arrive in Delhi on Saturday, the first of the foreign dignitaries from the neighbourhood invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend his swearing-in ceremony on Sunday evening.
According to sources, Ms. Hasina, who is due to land around noon will arrive a day earlier than the rest, as Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Bhutanese PM Tshering Tobgay would arrive on Sunday morning and Nepal PM P.K. Dahal “Prachanda” later in the day. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu is expected to attend the swearing-in, accompanied by a large delegation including senior Ministers.
The decision to invite regional countries mirrors Mr. Modi’s outreach to South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries in 2014 and Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) countries in 2019. This time, officials say the government is focusing on India’s close “neighbours and the Indian Ocean Region”, with invitations being extended to leaders of countries like Maldives, Seychelles and Mauritius as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka, who were invited both the previous times. However, leaders of Pakistan and Afghanistan were only invited in 2014, and ties with both countries have subsequently deteriorated over a number of issues. All the leaders will attend the swearing-in on Sunday evening at the Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt, and subsequently attend a reception that evening. On Monday, officials are working on schedules for call-ons by the External Affairs Minister and bilateral meetings with Mr. Modi and the visiting dignitaries.
The new government will also have a packed foreign travel agenda in the weeks ahead, with the Prime Minister expected to fly to Italy to attend the G-7 outreach being hosted by Italian PM Giorgia Meloni on June 13-14, where he will meet U.S. President Joe Biden, and leaders of the U.K., France, Germany, Canada, EU and Japan. According to officials, Mr. Modi would not accept the invitation from Switzerland to attend the peace summit on June 14, but India will participate at a “senior” level. In addition, Mr. Modi will be in Kazakhstan on July 3-4 for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Astana, due to be attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif, and leaders from Central Asia, Turkey and Iran. All eyes will also be on where Mr. Modi will make his first bilateral visit abroad in his third term: in 2014, he travelled to Bhutan and Nepal, and in 2019 to Maldives and Sri Lanka.
As The Hindu had reported earlier this week, Ms. Hasina, who was re-elected in January has been keen to schedule her visit to Delhi as her first destination abroad, before travelling to Beijing in July. In an interview to The Hindu last month, Mr. Tobgay had confirmed that he would visit India shortly after the government was formed, in order to take forward a number of India-Bhutan bilateral agreements, including discussions on Bhutan’s plans for the new Gelephu “mindfulness city” project and India’s support for Bhutanese development projects. Mr. Tobgay and Mr. Modi have already exchanged visits to Delhi and Thimphu in February and March this year. Mr. Muizzu’s visit would be his first to India since tensions of the past few months over the public “India Out” and “Boycott Maldives” campaigns and his insistence on the withdrawal of Indian troops from the southern atolls, and there could be a chance for the two sides to pick up threads of seemingly frayed bilateral ties.
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