Nepal prime minister Baburam Bhattarai today embarks on a key visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly meeting where he is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama and hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Leading a
13-member delegation to the UN, the first visit abroad after Bhattarai was elected the prime minister last month, the Maoist leader is scheduled to address the General Assembly during his nine-day tour.
The prime minister will meet head of the states and head of the government from a dozen countries, including Sri Lanka India and China, according to his press advisor Ram Rijhan Yadav.
57-year-old Bhattarai will attend a reception hosted by Obama on the occasion. He will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Singh and Chinese president Hu in New York, the official said.
The prime minister will be accompanied by deputy prime minister and foreign minister Narayan Kaji Shrestha and his wife Hisila Yami, a former Maoists minister, Yadav said.
India-educated Bhattarai is likely to visit India towards mid-October after his return from the UN, sources at the Foreign Ministry said. Soon after being elected to the top post, Singh had invited him to pay an official visit to India. Bhattarai was elected the Prime minister on August 28 after weeks of wrangling among the major political parties.