Somalian Foreign Minister First Visit To India Begins Today
Somalia's Foreign Minister Yusuf-Garaad Omar will arrive in India on Monday (31 July). Omar is on a five-day visit to the country during which he will meet his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj.
Omar's visit to the country from 31 July to 4 August, during which he will also visit Mumbai on August 2 and Hyderabad a day later.
During his five-day visit, the two sides will discuss the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues of mutual interest.
The Agreement for Transfer of Sentenced Persons will also be signed between the two nations during the visit from July 31 to August 4, the ministry said.
Omar is being accompanied by a high-level official delegation. This is Omar's first visit to India since he assumed the office earlier this year.
The Union Cabinet had in June given its approval for the ratification of the agreement on the transfer of sentenced persons between India and Somalia, located in the Horn of Africa.
Earlier this year, Somalia had rescued 10 Indians from Pirates. The Indian nationals were working as a crew member on Al Kausar, a commercial vessel, which was hijacked by pirates off the coast of Indian Ocean near Yemen and was saved by Somalian security forces in April.
India-Somalia bilateral trade stood at $391.05 million in 2014-15, a more than 51 per cent increase over the figure of $257.27 million in 2013-14. Somalia is among the partner countries of India's Pan African e-Network project.
India also offers Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) training scholarships and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships to Somalia.
India is on a spree on increasing its engagement with Africa, through a series of high-level visits in the last two years by then President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
New Delhi also hosted the India Africa Forum Summit in October 2015 that saw all 54 African nations participating.
Earlier this year, India also hosted the annual meeting of African Development Bank.
