By IANS
New Delhi : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday left for Cyprus, part of his four-nation tour that will also take him to Libya, Germany and Belgium.
During Mukherjee's visit to Nicosia, India and Cyprus will sign two agreements on combating terrorism and illegal drug trafficking and the abolition of visa requirements for holders of diplomatic and official passports.
The minister will call on President Tassos Papadopoulos and meet his Cyprian counterpart Yiorgos Lillikas and discuss with them a host of bilateral, regional and global issues, including bilateral trade, terrorism and UN reforms.
The highlight of Mukherjee's four-nation tour is the landmark visit to Libya – a booming oil economy that is rapidly modernising itself – beginning Saturday. The three-day trip to Libya is being billed as the most important visit from India to Tripoli in the last 22 years since the visit of late prime minister Indira Gandhi.
It will also be his first trip to a north African country after he became foreign minister late last year.
In Libya, he will meet his counterpart Abdul Rahman Shalgem and hold extensive discussions on a wide array of bilateral and global issues, including intensified cooperation in energy, education, infrastructure and IT.
The minister goes to Hamburg May 28 to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) where India has been invited for the first time at a gathering of foreign ministers of the forum formed 11 years ago to promote political, economic and cultural dialogue between the two continents.
Mukherjee then visits Brussels where he will chair a meeting with India's ambassadors to the EU countries. He will end his four-nation tour with a trip to Berlin for the ministerial meeting of the India-EU troika.