Indian Prime Minister cancels Ghana visit

...but leaves for Nigeria on Thursday

New Delhi, December 2 -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has cancelled a visit to Ghana next week, citing "Parliamentary obligations."

Vajpayee was to pay a two-day visit to the West African nation after attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in the Nigerian capital Abuja December 5-8.


"The Ghana visit has been dropped because the prime minister desires to concentrate on parliamentary work in Delhi," Foreign Secretary Shashank said while announcing the cancellation.


"It had to be cancelled because of his parliamentary obligations," he added.


Ghanaian President John Agyekum Kufuor had visited India last year.

PM to leave for Nigeria on Thursday to attend CHOGM Summit

Briefing the press here today on Mr Vajpayee's visit, new Foreign Secretary Shashank said the Prime Minister, who was also scheduled to visit Accra on a bilateral visit after the Commonwealth meeting, would now skip the Ghana leg of his tour.


Mr Vajpayee was keen to give more time to the ongoing Parliament session and was, therefore, not visiting Ghana, he added.


Asked if the Prime Minister would meet his British counterpart Tony Blair or other Commonwealth leaders on the margins of CHOGM Summit, Mr Shashank said "the format of CHOGM is such that the leaders are always busy with meetings, leaving little time for bilaterals." On whether India would still oppose the re-entry of Pakistan into the Commonwealth now that Indo-Pak relations had shown signs of improvement, he said the issue was being dealt with by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), which would have to see whether Islamabad had fufilled the criteria for its readmission.