The White House has confirmed that at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, U.S. President Barack Obama will travel to India in January 2015 to participate in the Indian Republic Day celebration in New Delhi as the Chief Guest.
The announcement, confirmed via a statement by the White House Press Secretary on the official website, noted that this visit would 'mark the first time a U.S. president will have the honour of attending Republic Day.'
While in India, Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet formally with Mr. Modi and Indian officials to strengthen and expand the U.S.-India strategic partnership, the Secretary added.
This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over...invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.
- Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 21, 2014
News of the visit was initially broken by Mr. Modi himself, via micro-blogging site Twitter, where he said, 'This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over... invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.'
The visit will be the second meeting between the two leaders, following Mr. Modi's travel to the U.S. in late September, his first trip to the country after a nine-year hiatus.
Although Mr. Modi was slapped with a visa ban by the U.S. State Department in 2005 Mr. Obama was among the first world leaders to reach out to the Prime Minister to congratulate him upon his election on May 16 this year.
A flurry of high-level bilateral visits between Indian and U.S. officials followed in the wake of this thaw, culminating with Mr. Modi's historic visit two months ago, and then sustained by further exchanges focusing on economic, technology and security cooperation.
For Mr. Obama his visit in January will be his second trip to India during his time as President, the first being a little more than four years ago, an occasion which was marked by the President's endorsement of India's long-held demand for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, November 21, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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