New Delhi, May 17 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, will visit Ethiopia to participate in the Second Africa-India Forum Summit which will be held on May 24 and 25, at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Following the Summit, Dr. Singh will continue to be in Ethiopia on May 25 and 26 on a bilateral visit.. After visiting Ethiopia, he will pay a bilateral visit to Tanzania on May 26 and 28.
External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister T.K.A. Nair and National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will be part of the Prime Minister's delegation.
"The summit will be preceded by the Foreign Ministers' Meeting on May 23 and a senior officials meeting on May 20-21. A special meeting of trade ministers will be held on May 21, 2011 in Addis Ababa," said Vivek Katju, Secretary (West) in the Ministry of External Affairs.
Vivek Katju said that the Second India-Africa Forum Summit will build on what was developed during the First Africa-India Forum Summit hosted by India in April, 2008, in Delhi. The First Summit adopted two far-reaching documents, the Delhi Declaration and the India-Africa Framework for Cooperation.
"These serve as the contours for our systematic engagement with Africa," Katju added.
Fifteen African countries will participate in the Summit on behalf of the African continent.
During the summit, it is expected that the leaders will discuss significant aspects of the India-Africa partnership with the objective of enhancing its content and widening its ambit for mutual benefit.
The leaders will also focus on regional and international issues of common concern, including threats from terrorism and piracy. Two outcome documents are expected to be adopted at the summit; The Addis Ababa Declaration and the Africa-India Framework for Enhanced Cooperation.
Dr. Singh will also hold detailed discussions with his Ethiopian counterpart Meles Zenawi on the situation in the region and important issues of international concern.
He will also address the Ethiopian Parliament.
During his second leg of visit to Tanzania, he will meet President Kikwete and discuss ways and means of taking the relationship forward in a comprehensive manner and strengthen partnership in the development process in Tanzania through education, capacity building and infrastructure development.
Dr. Singh's visit to Tanzania will be the first Head of Government level visit from India after September 1997. It will also be the first Head of Government visit from a non-African country after President Jakaya Kikwete assumed his second term (following the general elections in 2010). (ANI)
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