Pranab leaves for week-long four nation tour

New Delhi, May 24 (UNI) External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today left for a week-long tour of Cyprus, Libya, Germany and Belgium.

During his visit, he will hold talks on bilateral, regional and international situation with the leaders of these countries, and attend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) of Foreign Ministers in Germany, and the India-EU Troika conference in Germany.

He is accompanied by Mr Nalin Suri, Secretary (West).

Mr Mukherjee will be in Cyprus from May 24-26 where he will have an official meeting with his counterpart Yiorgos Lillikas, and also call on President Tassos Papadopoulos.

The two countries will also sign two agreements-- one on combating terrorism and illegal drug trafficking and organised crime, and the other on abolition of visa requirement for holders of diplomatic and official passports.

On the second leg of his tour, Mr Mukherjee will visit Libya from May 26-28, his first to an African country since taking over as External Affairs Minister The visit assumes significance as it takes place at the highest level in 22 years since the last visit of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Mr Mukherjee will have talks with his Libyan counterpart Shalgem and will also call on the Prime Minister.

On May 28-29, he will lead the Indian delegation at ASEM at Hamburg, Germany.

This will be the first time that India will attend the ASEM dialogue process at the ministerial level after being admitted formally to the grouping last year.

The last Summit was held in Helsinki in 2006 at which it was decided to admit six new members, including four from Asia (India, Pakistan, Mongolia and the ASEAN Secretariat) and two from Europe (Bulgaria and Romania.) The 45-member ASEM is an informal process of dialogue and cooperation bringing together European Union (EU) member States and the European Commission (EC) with ASEAN countries and some other Asian nations.

The ASEM dialogue addresses political, economic and cultural issues with the objective of strengthening relationship between the two regions. The ASEM process was initiated in 1996 with the holding of the first Summit in Bangkok.

From Hamburg, Mr Mukherjee will visit Brussels where he will co-chair, on May 30, an important conference of Indian Ambassadors to EU member States.

From Brussels he will fly to Berlin for the ministerial-level meeting of the India-EU Troika on May 31 which will enable both sides to take stock of the development of India-EU Strategic Partnership and preparations for the India-EU Summit in India later this year.

The two sides will also exchange views on regionaL and international issues of mutual interest, including developments in the EU, SAARC, West Asia and Afghanistan, energy security, climate change and counter-terrorism.

After the Troika meeting, Mr Mukerjee will have bilateral talks with his German counterpart.

UNI