LOC18:20
15:20 GMT
NEW DELHI, Nov 4 (KUNA) -- US President Barack Hussein Obama will pay a
four-day state-visit to India from Nov 6-9 on invitation of the countrys
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said on
Thursday.
Obamas visit would be in reciprocation for Indian Prime Ministers visit
to the US in November 2009, as the first state guest after Obama assumed power
in the preceding year.
Some of the key issues likely to figure in talks between the leaderships of
the two countries are anti-terror, civil-nuclear cooperation, space and energy
etc. And, the key agreements likely to be signed would be in areas like
education, health, agriculture, food security and clean energy, Ms Rao told
media persons in New Delhi at a press briefing.
She added that the issues would be those which affect the lives of the
people at the "grassroots level."
According to her, the issues of hike in fee for US visas and ban on
outsourcing jobs to India would also taken up during discussions between Obama
and the Indian Prime Minister on Nov 8. The top-level discussion would be
followed by a joint press conference.
Giving details of the US Presidents itinerary, she said that Obama will
arrive in the countrys financial capital Mumbai on the morning of Nov 6 and
land in Delhi the next day.
One of the main events during Obamas visit would be his address to the
joint session of the Indian Parliament on November 8, after his ceremonial
welcome at the Indian President House, she said.
During his maiden visit as US President, Obama will meet the countrys
President Pratibha Devising Patil, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh,
Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Leader of
Opposition Sushma Swaraj and president of main Opposition party Nitin Gadkari.
The US President would be accompanied by his wife Michelle Obama, National
Security Adviser James Jones, US Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner and
Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development
(USAID) Rajiv Shah, who is of Indian origin. (end)
py.rk
KUNA 041820 Nov 10NNNN