President Pratibha Patil to visit Laos this week

President Pratibha Patil was to pay a state visit to Laos later this week, official reports said today. Patil was scheduled to arrive on Thursday for a five-day visit to the land-locked communist country.

President Pratibha Patil was to pay a state visit to Laos later this week, official reports said on Monday.

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Patil was scheduled to arrive on Thursday for a five-day visit to the land-locked communist country at the invitation of President Choummaly Sayasone, the Lao Presidential Palace announced in a statement.

Laos, a mountainous country half the size of France, is a member of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), with which India has been fostering close ties over the past decade.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.