V-P Naidu begins tour to Serbia, Romania & Malta

New Delhi: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday embarked on a three-nation tour of Serbia, Malta and Romania aimed at enhancing cooperation in economy, environment, trade and culture.

During his week-long visit, he is scheduled to interact with heads of states of all the three countries and witness signing of agreements. As the Chairman of Rajya Sabha, he will hold delegation-level talks with his counterparts and address their respective parliaments.

The Vice President is accompanied by Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla and MPs Prasanna Acharya, Raghav Lakhanpal, Saroj Pandey, and Vijila Sathyananth.

The visit is expected to help the countries exchange expertise and share knowledge in economy, environment, trade and culture, an official statement said.

Vice President Naidu will first visit Belgrade, Serbia where he is likely to interact with the Indian diaspora.

He will attend the official welcoming ceremony hosted by Serbia on Saturday and proceed to Serbia Palace to hold a meeting with the President of Republic of Serbia Aleksander Vucic.

Both the leaders will witness the signing of MOUs and release commemorative stamps on Nikola Tesla and Swami Vivekananda.

The Vice President is also scheduled to attend India-Serbia business forum meeting and later join the banquet hosted by Aleksander Vucic.

Naidu will hold delegation-level talks with the Speakers of the National Assembly of Republic of Serbia Maja Gajkovic and later address the special Session of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia before attending the presentation on the Belgrade Waterfront Project.