President Kovind to visit Greece, Suriname, Cuba (Lead, correcting para 2, para 18)

IANS  |  New Delhi 

will embark on an eight-day, three-nation tour from June 16 that will see him going to Greece, and Cuba, it was announced on Tuesday.

He will hold a meeting with Pavlopoulus as well as with Greek and of the Opposition Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Kovind will also meet Indian and Greek CEOs and deliver a speech on "and in a Changing World" at the Hellenic Foundation for and Foreign Policy, a leading Greek think tank.

According to Bhattacharjee, India-bilateral trade stands at $530 million and some Indian companies are also present in the infrastructure, pharmaceutical and in that central European nation.

With being home to a 12,000-strong Indian diaspora, Kovind will also interact with members of the community.

From Greece, Kovind will leave for on June 19 in what will be the first ever visit by an Indian head of state to the South American nation.

Partha Satpathy, (and Caribbean), said that Kovind's visits to and are a reflection of giving more importance from this year to ties with

Last month, Vice visited Guatemala, and

While in Suriname at the invitation of President Desi Bouterse, following official talks, some agreements are expected to be signed, including on health and will offer some lines of credit as part of development assistance.

With 37 per cent of Suriname's population being people of Indian origin, Kovind will also lay the foundation of a

Most of these Indian-origin people are descendants of indentured labour brought to work in sugarcane plantations, the first batch of whom arrived in 1873.

On June 21, Kovind will participate in activities as part of the International Yoga Day.

From Suriname, he and his delegation will leave for which again will be the first ever presidential visit from to the island country.

Satpathy said that both India and are important partners in the global South-South cooperation.

He said that Kovind will interact with Cuba's new leadership under President

Four agreements are expected to be signed, including in the areas of and traditional and alternative systems of medicine.

Kovind will conclude his visit on June 23.

According to Press Secretary to the President Ashok Malik, this will be Kovind's fourth and last foreign visit in the first year of his presidency. In all, he will have visited 10 countries.

During the visit, the President will be accompanied by for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai, two members of the Lok Sabha, and Nityanand Rai, and senior officials.

--IANS

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First Published: Tue, June 12 2018. 20:02 IST