Delhi, India
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting Sweden and England from April 16 to April 20. PM Modi will participate in the first-ever India-Nordic Summit along with this year's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
PM Modi is expected to reach Stockholm on April 16 in what will be the first prime ministerial visit from India to Sweden in the last three decades. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was the last Indian Prime Minister to have visited the country in the year 1988.
PM Modi's agenda will include dialogue and discussions in the areas of innovation, technology and education.
Here's a quick look at the rough itinerary of PM Modi's visit to the two European countries.
1. The Prime minister will hold a bilateral summit with his Swedish counterpart Stefan Lofven on April 17 to discuss regional and global issues at length.
2. India and Sweden will also co-host the first ever India-Nordic Summit on April 17. The event is expected to see the Prime Ministers from four Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway in attendance.
3. An India-Sweden Innovation Partnership is also expected to be launched.
4. The Prime Minister will leave for Britain on April 17. PM Modi's last visit to Britain was in November 2015. The English Prime Minister Theresa May's visited India in November 2016. The two leaders are likely to hold a bilateral dialogue on April 18.
5. In what has been categorised as an "unprecedented" welcome, PM Modi will hold not just one but two meetings with his British counterpart Theresa May on Wednesday before they begin formal deliberations as part of the multilateral Commonwealth summit on Thursday, PTI reports.
6. A memorandum of understanding on the return of illegal immigrants, which had expired in 2014, will be renewed to take into account biometric and other developments in the field.
7. PM Modi's UK visit will have a particular focus on the India-UK technological partnership and the central feature of this will be his second meeting with Theresa May on Wednesday at the Francis Crick Institute in London, where a new India-UK Technical Alliance is expected to be among a series of announcements.
8. The Prime Minister will also meet Indian-origin scientists working on cancer research, malaria and other tropical diseases before going in to the India-UK CEOs Forum.
The Ministry of External Affairs has indicated that around 10-12 deliverables, including innovation-related MoUs between NASSCOM and Innovate UK and between NITI Aayog and its counterpart in the UK, are expected to be accompanied by a formal joint statement at the end of the bilateral leg of the visit on Wednesday.
9. Prime Minister Modi is also among only three senior world leaders attending CHOGM to be invited for an audience with Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday evening.
10. PM Modi's royal welcome will include a special event hosted by Prince Charles, during which the heir to the British throne will drive up in a Tata Motors' first-ever electric Jaguar to symbolise the India-UK technical collaboration.
"The welcome being accorded to the Indian Prime Minister is unprecedented in many ways. It reflects the importance the UK attaches to the visit and shows the mature level of India-UK ties," said an official involved with the preparations for the visit.
Modi's visit to Britain has been themed "Living bridge and tech partnership".
(With inputs from agencies)