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Business News/ News / World/  Barack Obama leaves for India, cancels Agra visit to leave early for Saudi Arabia
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Barack Obama leaves for India, cancels Agra visit to leave early for Saudi Arabia

Obama will cut short his three-day trip to visit Saudi Arabia to pay respects after the death of King Abdullah

The schedule change, announced shortly before Barack Obama left for India, means the US President will skip plans to see the Taj Mahal, and instead pay a call on an influential US ally in the Middle East. Photo: BloombergPremium
The schedule change, announced shortly before Barack Obama left for India, means the US President will skip plans to see the Taj Mahal, and instead pay a call on an influential US ally in the Middle East. Photo: Bloomberg

Washington/New Delhi: US President Barack Obama on Saturday embarked on his highly anticipated three-day landmark trip to India during which the two countries will strive to make progress on climate change, defence and economic cooperation.

Obama left by Air Force One, the presidential aircraft, from the Andrews Air Force Base.

The US President is accompanied by a sizeable delegation that will include several top officials, as well as First Lady Michelle Obama. Obama is travelling to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The Presidential aircraft will have a brief refuelling halt at Ramstein in Germany and will touch down in Delhi at 10 am on Sunday at Air Force Station, Palam.

The US President will cut short his three-day trip to India and visit Saudi Arabia to pay respects after the death of King Abdullah, a statement from the White House said. The change in schedule, which was announced shortly before Obama left for India, means that the US President will not visit the Taj Mahal and depart from India earlier than scheduled.

Obama and the First Lady Michelle Obama were to travel to Agra on Tuesday after addressing a town hall style meeting in New Delhi.

According to the White House statement forwarded by the US embassy in New Delhi, Obama and the First Lady will now travel to Riyadh on Tuesday after the town hall style meeting with Indian students and intelligentsia “in order to pay respects to King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the family of the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz".

“Vice-president Joe Biden was originally to have led a delegation to Saudi Arabia on the President’s behalf. As the President’s and vice-president’s travel schedules became clearer, we determined that the window when the vice president would be on the ground in Riyadh coincided with the President’s departure from India," the statement, attributed to White House press secretary Josh Earnest, said.

“Accordingly, we adjusted the schedule in coordination with the Indian government so that the President would be able to depart India following his speech on Tuesday to stop in Riyadh during the return trip to meet with King Salman and other Saudi officials and offer his condolences on behalf of the American people. The President regrets that he will be unable to visit Agra during this trip," the statement said.

Saudi Arabia has been one of the US’s staunchest allies in the Middle East though in recent times some tensions—over the US’s talks with Shia majority Iran and the US’s reluctance to take stronger action against Syrian president Bashar al Assad—had crept into ties.

The king, who died on Friday, was aggressive in trying to check the spreading power of Saudi Arabia’s chief rival, Iran. Obama visited the ailing monarch in his desert compound last March.

The more substantive portions of Obama’s trip to India appeared unlikely to change.

Upon his arrival in New Delhi on Sunday, Obama, who is making his second visit to India, will be joined there by multiple members of his cabinet, influential business leaders and a host of US lawmakers, including Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the US House of Representatives.

Obama will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at about 12 noon at the Rashtrapati Bhawan by President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Modi.

Thereafter, he will pay homage to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat. Obama will then join Modi for a restricted working lunch at the Hyderabad House and participate in a “walk and talk" with the Indian Prime Minister there, the White House said.

The two leaders will then have an expanded delegation-level meeting, which is expected to last for about an hour. Later in the evening, Obama is scheduled to meet US embassy personnel and families at the ITC Maurya Hotel.

He will then drive down to Rashtrapati Bhawan to attend the state banquet hosted by President Mukherjee.

On 26 January, Obama will participate in the Republic Day celebration as the chief guest. In the afternoon, Obama and Modi will participate in a CEO forum roundtable.

On Tuesday morning, the US President will give an address at Siri Fort Auditorium and then leave for Saudi Arabia.

AP contributed to this story.

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Published: 24 Jan 2015, 01:51 PM IST
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