New Delhi: Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, who arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening on a three-day visit to India, will have bilateral engagements with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
Although this is Ghani’s first visit to India after he became Afghan President seven months ago, he has already met Modi during the SAARC summit in Kathmandu last November.
The visiting dignitary would call on Prime Minister Modi at the Hyderabad House, which will be followed by delegation-level talks between both sides.
President Ghani will be accorded a ceremonial reception after which he would lay a wreath at the Rajghat.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will call on him at the Dwarka Suite of Rashtrapati Bhavan after which he will leave for Hyderabad House to hold talks with Modi.
Both sides will make media statements.
Ghani will later be called on by several union ministers, including of Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Health Minister JP Nadda.
Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari would call on the Ghani at 4 pm. He will later make a special address at the Indian Council of World Affairs.
Later in the evening, the Afghan President would meet President Pranab Mukherjee at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Afghan President will hold a joint interaction with business leaders from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India before concluding the visit.
India and Afghanistan have a strong relationship based on historical and cultural links. The relationship is not limited to the governments in New Delhi and Kabul, and has its foundations in the historical contacts and exchanges between the people.
In recent past, the relations between India and Afghanistan have been further strengthened by the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in 2011.
(With inputs from ANI)