India was looking forward to U.S. President Barack Obama’s “very important” visit in November, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna has said, noting that First Lady Michelle Obama was “excited” about the trip.
Mr. Krishna said that at a reception hosted by Mr. Obama for world leaders, who are here for the U.N. General Assembly session, he told the President that his visit to India was going to be “very important.”
“President Obama mentioned to me that he was looking forward to his visit to India and I conveyed to him that Dr. Manmohan Singh and his government and the people of India are looking forward to welcoming him in India and it’s going to be a very important visit,” the minister told PTI.
“The First Lady (Michelle Obama) is excited about her visit,” he said.
Reacting to the turnout of foreign ministers and envoys at a reception hosted for him by the Indian mission to the United Nations last night, Mr. Krishna noted that this was indicative of India’s prominence on the international stage.
“This is India’s growth speaking up,” he said following the event which was attended by 30 foreign ministers and 50 ambassadors as well as top United Nations diplomats.
Mr. Krishna has also been busy meeting his counterparts in bilateral and “plurilateral” sessions discussing several foreign policy issues ranging from disarmament to the peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians.
On whether his trip, so far, had been productive, Mr. Krishna said “everything that I’ve had...bilateral meetings, multilateral meetings...they have all been very very useful.”
