PM goes on 3-nation tour from today

Prime Minister Narenda Modi will leave for a three-nation tour from Tuesday, to visit Brussels, Washington, and Riyadh.

Modi will be in Belgian capital Brussels on Wednesday, days after terrorist attacks that left 35 dead and several injured. He would attend the India-European Union (EU) summit and hold a summit meeting with his Belgian counterpart Charles Michel.

India and the EU will seek to take forward their negotiations on the free trade agreement on a number of issues, said Nandini Singla, joint secretary, ministry of external affairs.

India-EU ties have been strained in the recent past after the 28-member bloc had not responded positively to New Delhi's proposal for a brief visit by Modi to Brussels, the EU headquarters, during his trip to France, Germany and Canada in April 2015.

In Brussels, Modi will meet top businessmen, including a delegation of diamond traders, and will also address the Indian diaspora. Antwerp in Belgium is the largest diamond trading hub globally, and has a sizeable presence of Indian traders. A significant number of these traders are from Gujarat. The PM will also have separate meetings with parliamentarians and a delegation of Indologists.

India and EU will release a joint statement and a separate document outlining the roadmap for next five years in the fields of political, security, energy and trade and investments.

From Brussels, Modi will leave for Washington to attend the 4th Nuclear Security Summit on March 31 and April 1. India will submit a national progress report on nuclear security at the summit, which is also expected to deliberate on ways to tackle nuclear terrorism.

MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup did not deny the likelihood of Modi meeting Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif in Washington.

On his return journey, the PM will travel to Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh for a two-day visit. Former PM Manmohan Singh had visited Riyadh in 2010.

Saudi Arabia is India's fourth largest partner with bilateral trade exceeding $39 billion in 2014-15. It is also India's largest crude oil supplier accounting for about one-fifth of total imports. There are 2.96 million Indian nationals working in Saudi Arabia. India-Saudi Arabia cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism has increased in recent years, with Riyadh having deported a number of terrorists to India in the past few years including 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Abu Jundal.

In Riyadh, Modi will meet top CEOs of Saudi companies, visit the famous Masmak fort, will interact with the Indian community and visit Tata Consultancy Services centre, which had trained around 1,000 Saudi women. Modi will also meet Indian workers of a project being implemented by Larsen & Toubro.

Saudi Arabia plans to invest $1 trillion in infrastructure development over the next five years and Modi is likely to pitch for participation of Indian companies in the projects.