Clinton begins India tour

BANGALORE: In one of the most famous visits of any head of nation, US

President William Jefferson Clinton arrived in New Delhi on Sunday evening for a

five-day stay in the South Asian countries of India, Bangladesh and a brief

stopover in Pakistan.

Indian diplomats and government expect the US President to ease the economic

sanctions imposed on India following the Pokhran nuclear tests. Mr Clinton is

also expected to persuade India to sign the Non-proliferation Treaty. Besides,

he will also make announcements towards strengthening the economic relations of

the two countries.

The IT sector is expected to be the biggest gainer from the visit. Mr Clinton

will also be visiting Hyderabad and Mumbai during his India tour. According to

Mr Clinton, Indian IT is among the global economy's brightest spots, expanding

25-fold in the past decade.

The US President who landed in Delhi on Sunday, will leave to Dhaka on Monday

morning and will return back to the capital by late night. He will be accorded a

ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by Pesident K.R. Narayanan, vice

-president Krishan Kant and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet

colleagues on March 21 when his five-day official visit to India begins. Mr

Clinton will have official engagements in the capital on Tuesday and Wednesday

and on Wednesday afternoon he will leave for Agra. He will spend two nights in

Jaipiur, on Wednesday and Thursday. Apart from visiting Amber Fort on the

outskirts of the "Pink City", he will visit a village nearby, Nayla

and then go to Ranthambor tiger sanctuary. He is scheduled to leave Jaipur for

Hyderabad on Friday morning. After a brief five-hour prgramme in Hyderabad, he

will fly to Mumbai for the last leg of his tour in India. Mr Clinton's visit

will conclude on Saturday morning when he leaves Mumbai for Islamabad for a

brief stopover.