Former US president Bill Clinton to travel to India this month

New Delhi, July 4: Former US President

will travel to India this month during which he is expected to visit

and Jaipur and focus on critical issues, including global health, improved access to medicines, climate change and economic development.

Clinton will travel to India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Australia from July 16 to 23 as part of his longstanding commitment to the Asia/Pacific region and to highlight the work of the Clinton Foundation on the key social issues in the five countries.

In India, Clinton is expected to travel to Jaipur on July 16, where he would visit a kitchen that is part of a school lunch programme that feeds over one million children daily across India. The programme is part of a Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action made by NGO Akshaya Patra and the Deshpande Foundation.

In Lucknow, the former president would visit a school and community center that, through the Clinton Health Access Initiative, are providing health care training and information about using zinc and oral rehydration salts to treat diarrhea, as well as educating mothers through self-help groups and school children through classes on these lifesaving treatments.

"Since leaving office, Clinton has focused on the Asia/Pacific region - working to improve access to life saving medication through the Clinton Health Access Initiative, supporting commitments to global philanthropy through the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) and addressing the causes of climate change through the Clinton Climate Initiative," a statement said here.

As President, Clinton had promoted economic development by elevating the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) to a head-of-state event. He had also encouraged inclusive, democratic governance across the region, and worked to promote peace and defuse conflict. He has traveled to the region 14 times as President as well as in his capacity as the UN Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery.

In Hanoi, Vietnam, Clinton would visit an orphanage to view a Clinton Health Access Initiative programme that aims to prevent tuberculosis among children living with HIV while in Melbourne he would deliver the keynote address at the International AIDS Conference.

PTI