Departing from the usual protocol, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his wife will receive Japanese Emperor Akihito and his spouse Empress Michiko who will arrive in New Delhi on Saturday on a six-day visit, their first to any South Asian country after being enthroned in 1990.
In recent times, such a departure from protocol has been done only thrice before by Prime Minister Singh for United States Presidents George W Bush and Barack Obama, and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
The couple, accompanied by a medium-size delegation of 50 including former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, will be in India on a six-day State visit at the invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee and the Prime Minister and his wife Gursharan Kaur will receive them.
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid will be the minister-in-waiting for the visiting dignitaries. While briefing the reporters, the MEA spokesperson said Khurshid has fond memories of the visit by the royal couple in 1961 when he was a 7-year-old.
The Minister's grandfather was governor of Bihar and the royal couple, then crowned prince and princess, visited Patna and Khurshid has "very fond memory" of that visit, the spokesperson said.
India will try and make this visit as important as it can and every importance of the protocol will be given at every level to ensure that this will be a memorable visit, the spokesperson, who was accompanied by the chief of protocol and the director in Euro-Asia division at the briefing, said.
The officials also made it clear that during the visit, which was very high in "symbolism and goodwill", no "political or any other contemporary" issues are expected to be discussed.
The officials also parried a question on cancellation of Empress Michiko's visit in 1998 for a conference, to which she sent a video message.
