PM on 10-day tour to US, France from Sept 22

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be going on a 10-day foreign tour starting September 22, which includes visits to the US and France.

In the last leg of his tenure, Dr Singh has quite an elaborate tour that will cover four major events in two continents.

Dr Singh is planning to attend the United Nations General Assembly's 63th session in New York, which starts from September 23.

After attending the UNGA session, the prime minister will visit Washington and meet President George W Bush, probably to celebrate the progress of Indo-US civil nuclear co-operation deal.

In three days time, the world will know if India will be given special exemption to resume civilian nuclear trade with the world.

The debate at the Nuclear Suppliers Group is turning out to be tough and is testing American negotiators' ability to convince the staunch anti-nuclear countries.

From Washington, Dr Singh will head to the French town of Marseille to attend the European Union-India summit on September 29.

The EU will be represented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in his role as the President of the Council of the European Union, José Manuel Durão Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Javier Solana, High Representative for the Common and Foreign Security Policy.

According to press release issued by the EU, "This summit should constitute a new phase in EU-India relations and facilitate discussion on regional issues of mutual interest to the EU and India and on major global challenges such as the climate, energy and the world food situation."

Later, Dr Singh will visit Paris to hold bilateral talks with President Sarkozy.

According to ministry of external affairs spokesman Navtej Sarna, Dr Singh will return home on October 1.