Modi to meet 20 African leaders on Wednesday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have bilateral meetings with 20 African leaders on Wednesday including Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari and South African President Jacob Zuma.

External affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that the prime minister's bilateral meetings with the African leaders, who will attend the India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) on October 29, will continue till October 30.

Modi's first meeting on Wednesday will be at 9 a.m. with Mugabe. The bilateral meetings will take place at Hyderabad House and continue will 5 p.m.

He will meet Ghanian President John Dramani Mahama, Swaziland's King Mswati III, Benin's President Boni Yayi, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Modi will also meet Lesotho Prime Minister Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili, Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh, Nigerien President Issoufou Mahamadou and Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno.

Modi's meetings include that with Mozambican Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, Sao Tome and Principe's Prime Minister Patrice Emery Trovoada, Gabonese President Ali Bongo Ondimba, African Union Commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Guinean President Alpha Conde and Botswana Vice President Mokgweetsi Eric Keabetswe Masisi.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who met eight of her African counterparts on Tuessday, will meet 12 more on Wednesday.