Mukherjee leaves on official visit to Belgium, Turkey

President Pranab Mukherjee embarked on a six-day state visit to Belgium and Turkey on Wednesday afternoon.

A high level delegation is accompanying the president on the visit, including Minister for Shipping G K Vasan, Members of Parliament Priya Dutt, Deepender Singh Hooda, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Baishnab Charan Parida and Prabhakar Kore, University Grants Commission Chairman Ved Prakash, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor Dinesh Singh, Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory and Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Ramakrishna Ramaswamy.

Prior to his departure, Mukherjee was given a ceremonial send-off at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Cabinet Ministers, the three service chiefs, the Lt. Governor of Delhi and senior government officials.

The president will first go to Belgium at the invitation of the King Philippe. This is the first visit by an Indian President to Belgium.

In Belgium, Mukherjee would inaugurate the 'Europalia-India 2013-14, a cultural extravaganza showcasing India.

He will then visit Turkey from October 5-7 at the invitation of the President of Turkey.

This would be the third visit by an Indian President to Turkey after the visits by the President of India in 1993 and 1998.