Manmohan Singh concludes three-nation visit

HANOI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left here for home Saturday, ending a three-nation Asian tour of Japan, Malaysia and Vietnam during which he met with some top leaders from the region and concluded talks for major economic pacts with two countries.

During the visit, Manmohan Singh held bilateral talks with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur and Japanese Premier Naoto Kan in Tokyo and concluded far reaching agreements for bilateral economic cooperation with the two countries.

Another important meeting that was held on the sidelines of the India-ASEAN Summit here, was with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao that helped thaw some persisting irritants between the world’s two most populous countries on a variety of issues.

With 60 years of Sino-India diplomatic ties this year as the backdrop, Wen said he would be happy to visit New Delhi later this year and his Indian counterpart responded saying he was “extremely delighted” to hear about it.

Manmohan Singh also met with Prime Ministers Julia Gillard of Australia, Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore and Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam here and also discussed the finer details of President Barack Obama’s Nov 6-9 visit to India with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Among the other announcements, the prime minister told the India-ASEAN Summit here that nationals from Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Laos will be given visa on arrival from Jan 1 and looked forward to investment and services pact with the grouping.

During the seven-day, three-nation trip that started last Sunday, the prime minister was accompanied by Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, among other officials.