"The President will conduct a state visit to India, upon the invitation of the government of India to become a prime guest at the Republic Day on January 26," he said after attending a limited cabinet meeting which also discussed preparations for the visit.
He said while in India President Yudhoyono is also scheduled to witness the signing of a number of cooperation agreements including on extradition and in the fields of science, economy and trade.
India commemorates Republic Day on every January 26 to mark the implementation of the Indian Constitution to replace the Indian government law of 1935 as a document that governed India as of January 26 of 1950.
It has chosen January 26 in respect of the declaration of independence of 1930. That is one of the three national holidays of India.
The Republic Day is marked with a parade in Rajpath, New Delhi, attended by the president of India.
Since 1950 the commemoration has also been attended by a prime guest from a foreign country selected based on strategic economic and political interests and relations between the two countries.
In 1950 President Soekarno was the prime guest in the commemoration and 61 years later in 2011 the Indonesian President would again become the prime guest in the event.
The prime guest in 2010 was South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, in 2009 President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and in 2008 President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and in 200y President Vladimir Putin of Russia.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
