Donald Trump's Visit to India: Talks Underway With US, Saya MEA

New Delhi, November 1: Just a few days after US President Donald Trump declined India's request to be the Chief Guest for Republic Day Celebrations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India is engaged with the US to decide when President Donald Trump can visit the country. Donald Trump's India Visit Cancelled Due to 'Scheduling Issue': US Ambassador.

Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) Raveesh Kumar informed that high-level exchanges are integral part of the strategic partnership between the two countries, and both sides are engaged in discussions on when President Trump can visit India. Donald Trump Will Not Attend India's Republic Day 2019 Celebrations Due to 'Scheduling Constraints', Confirms White House.

“Both India and the US are in talks to decide when President Trump can come to India,” Kumar said at a media briefing.

When asked about the reason as to why the US President declined the invite to be part of the Republic Day as chief guest, Kumar said that the White House has cite Trump’s inability to participate as a “purely scheduling issue”.

Earlier this week, a White House spokesperson, when asked about Trump’s decision, had said, “President Trump was honoured by Prime Minister Modi’s invitation to him to be the chief guest of India’s Republic Day on January 26, 2019, but is unable to participate due to scheduling constraints.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had invited Trump to visit India during their talks in Washington in June 2017. India invites world leaders to attend its Republic Day celebrations, which is part of the Republic Day celebrations tradition in India. In 2015, the then US president Barack Obama had attended it as the chief guest, which was his second visit to India as the American president.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2018 11:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).