Suriname President to be Republic Day chief guest after Boris Johnson cancels visit
Suriname President to be R-Day chief guest: India had initially invited Boris Johnson to be the chief guest but the British PM had to cancel his visit in view of the grim coronavirus situation back home.
New Delhi: Chandrikapersad Santokhi, President of the Republic of Suriname is likely to be chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade on January 26 this year, a leading news portal reported citing sources in the PMO.
This comes after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cancelling India visit due to severe outbreak of new Covid-19 strain in Britain.
Santokhi, who is of Indian origin, will be attending the Rajpath parade.
Earlier this week, Santokhi was the chief guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas Convention, where he delivered a keynote address. In his address, he had pitched for free movement of people between India and his country as he favoured greater bilateral trade and cultural ties.
India had initially invited Boris Johnson to be the chief guest but the British PM had to cancel his visit in view of the grim coronavirus situation back home.
Santokhi had talked about scope to cooperation between two nations in areas of business, trade and tourism. Elaborating on historical links between the two countries, the president said the Suriname diaspora is part of India’s soft power and India is also part of Suriname’s soft power
Santokhi was sworn in as the president of Suriname in July, 2020, when his party, the Progressive Reform Party, won 20 of the 51 seats in the elections.