SBY to visit New Delhi on Jan. 26 to attend Republic Day

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will visit New Delhi on Jan. 26 to attend the commemoration of Indian Republic Day before meeting with Indian leaders and witnessing the signing of a number of agreements between India and Indonesia.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Wednesday the Indian government had invited Yudhoyono to New Delhi as the ceremony’s prime guest.

“The President will conduct a state visit to India upon the invitation of the government of India as a prime guest on Republic Day on January 26,” he told Antara after attending a limited Cabinet meeting, which also discussed preparations for the visit.

Since 1950, the commemoration has been attended by a prime guest from a foreign country, who is selected based on strategic economic and political interests and relations with India. President Soekarno was the prime guest at the commemoration in 1950.

The prime guest in 2010 was South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. In 2009 it was President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, in 2008 President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and in 2007 President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

India commemorates Republic Day every January 26 to mark the implementation of the Indian Constitution replacing the Indian Government Law of 1935 as a document that governed India as of Jan. 26, 1950.

Marty said while in India President Yudhoyono was also scheduled to witness the signing of a number of cooperation agreements including on extradition and in the fields of science, economy and trade.