MEA releases departure schedule list of SAARC leaders

A Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) release has listed the schedule of departures of all the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Heads of Government, following their courtesy call tomorrow on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Pranab Mukherjee.

Those leaders who are going to depart for their home tomorrow are from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Mauritius. Leaders of Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal will depart on May 28.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will leave at 3.30 p.m. Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai is scheduled to leave at 4.p.m. Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, President of Maldives will be the next SAARC leader to depart at 4.30 p.m.. Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri Lanka will leave at 5 p.m.

All these four leaders will be departing for home from Air Force Station at Palam.

Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, is scheduled to leave for home at 9.50 p.m.from Terminal III of the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Lyonchhen Tshering Tobgay of Bhutan will leave at 11.45 a.m., while Dr. Shirin Shamin Chaudhury, Speaker of the Bangladesh Parliament will leave at 12.20 p.m.. Prime Minister Sushil Koirala of Nepal, will leave at 1.35 p.m.

This is the first time that SAARC Heads of Government have been invited to the swearing-in ceremony of an Indian Prime Minister.

President Pranab Mukherjee will administer the oath of office and secrecy to Modi and his council of Ministers in the presence of a host of leaders, including outgoing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, besides leaders of various other parties and chief ministers of a number of states.

Modi will become the third person after Atal Behari Vajpayee and Chandrashekar to be sworn in as Prime Minister's in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan.