Mantris to head for 68 nations not visited by any NDA neta

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Rajnath Singh will travel to Hungary as part of a massive programme to be undertaken by the NDA government to reach out to 68 countries not visited by any minister of the Modi government.

Apart from Singh, law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will visit Estonia and Latvia, and parliamentary minister Ananth Kumar will be heading to Tonga, while food minister Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP will travel to Mauritius, and agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh to Suriname.

In letters to the ministers, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said the government will ensure every country has been visited by at least one Indian minister by 2016-end.

She has also conveyed that all the interactions in the visiting countries will be arranged by the respective ambassadors and, in case a minister was interested in visiting certain places in those countries, their itinerary will be made accordingly.

The aim of the visits is to enhance bilateral ties and explore areas of cooperation, official sources said.