Indian PM to embark on three-nation visit March end

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-nation tour of Belgium, the United States and Saudi Arabia next month, sources said Monday.

"Modi's first stop is Brussels on March 30, where he will hold the bilateral India-European Union Summit. From Belgium, he will head to the U.S. to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington," the sources said.

Heads of states and governments of nearly 50 countries are expected to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in the United States and there is much speculation that Modi will meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the summit.

On his way back home, Modi will make a stopover in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, which will become the first-ever visit by any Indian prime minister to the kingdom in the past six years, the sources said.

The Indian prime minister's visit to Riyadh assumes significance, given the current geo-political situation in the Middle East amid strained relations between the Gulf kingdom and Iran, another strategically important country for India. Endit