Venkaiah Naidu to visit Serbia, Malta and Romania

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu will embark on a three-nation tour to Serbia, Malta and Romania from September 14 to 20 to boost ties with the Central European countries, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Thursday.

In the first leg of his visit, Naidu will be visiting Serbia from September 14 to September 16, Anju Kumar, Joint Secretary (Central Europe) in the Ministry of External Affairs, told a media briefing.

The visit is at the invitation of Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, she said.

"And it is coming after a long gap. In fact, after the break-up of Yugoslavia, it is the first time that a dignitary (from India) is visiting the country," the official said.

Serbia has an unconditional and open visa policy for India, Kumar said.

During his visit, Naidu will hold talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, speaker of the national assembly and the prime minister of that country.

Naidu will also address a special session of the National Assembly, Kumar said, adding the venue of the session will be the place where the first announcement of the historic Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) was made.

Vucic had visited India to attend the Vibrant Gujarat Summit last year in the capacity of a prime minister.

The MEA joint secretary said the focus of the visit will be on trade.

Bilateral trade between India and Serbia stands at around USD 200 million with a focus on areas like agriculture and agricultural technologies, science and technology, education, tourism and pharmaceutical.

In the second leg of the tour, Naidu will visit Malta from September 16 to September 18.

Malta, a country in the Mediterranean, lies on the crossroads of North Africa and Europe and is also a
During the visit, Naidu will visit Maltese President