Obama visiting India in August or October: Manmohan
By IANSSaturday, April 17, 2010
ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE - US President Barack Obama will visit India either in August or October, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday.
“Obama will come to India in August or October, the dates have not yet been finalised,” Manmohan Singh told journalists on board his special aircraft Air India One when asked about the US president’s visit to India.
The prime minister returned home Saturday after an eight-day visit to the US and Brazil where he participated in three multilateral summits and held over half a dozen bilateral meetings with world leaders.
However, following close on the heels of Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington, the US’ second top ranking diplomat, Deputy Secretary James B. Steinberg, will visit India in April “to discuss a range of bilateral and multilateral issues that advance our bilateral relationship”.
Steinberg is travelling to India and Bangladesh April 20-22. This is his first visit to India and Bangladesh as deputy secretary, the State Department announced Thursday.
“Steinberg will meet with government officials and other political figures, and business, civil society, and opinion leaders in New Delhi, Kolkata, and Dhaka,” it said.
State Department Spokesperson P.J. Crowley would not divulge the purpose of his visit. Nor did he see a connection between the visit and a trip to the State Department Thursday by the Indian Ambassador to the US Meera Shankar.
The last US presidential visit was by Obama’s predecessor George W. Bush in March 2006.
