Japan delayed, Pak uncertain, only Cambodia in PM’s itinerary

With the Japan trip getting deferred and no call being taken on the Pakistan visit, Cambodia is likely to be the last foreign port of call for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this year, Jayanth Jacob reports.

With the Japan trip getting deferred and no call being taken on the Pakistan visit, Cambodia is likely to be the last foreign port of call for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this year.

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Singh is set to visit Cambodian capital Phnom Penh for the East Asia as well as India-ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian nations) summit on November 18, 19 and 20. Though efforts were on to club the Prime Minister’s Japan visit with his trip to Cambodia, Tokyo’s declaration of polls in December changed it all.

“Considering that Japan is set to go to the polls in December, they felt it would be better to make the trip after the polls. November would be too close to the elections, which would occur in December,” sources in the know said.

India and Japan have annual summits, but this year’s event is unlikely to take place due to the Prime Minister deferring his visit.

No other foreign trips have been planned for 2012, and the plan to visit Pakistan has also been relegated to the backburner.

However, this year is likely to witness visits by important foreign dignitaries, including Australian prime minister Julia Gillard and Russian president Vladmir Putin.

Putin will be visiting India for the annual India-Russia summit on November 1.

The other persons slated to drop by this year are Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and Don Juan Carlos I, the king of Spain.