A file photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Barack Obama. (PTI)
US President Barack Obama - the chief guest of the Republic Day celebrations - and his wife Michelle will arrive in Delhi on Sunday morning. The occasion is a "qualitative reinvigoration" of the ties between the two countries since PM Modi's visit to the US in September 2014, said Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs.
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The US President will receive a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. While the MEA did not clarify if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will receive President Obama and the US First Lady at the airport, the Ministry of External Affairs made it clear that the protocol of a minister receiving a visiting dignitary would be followed.
The US President will attend two banquets on Day One of his visit - one hosted by Prime Minister Modi after the bilateral talks, and the second, by President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the evening.
The pomp and regalia of the visit is to form the background for the next round of India-US bilateral talks. The talks - the 10th in the last four months - will be held in two rounds. First at the Hyderabad House and then at the banquet hosted by PM Modi. The US is India's key partner in the areas of science and technology, defence and counter-terrorism.
On the morning of January 26, President Obama will take the salute at the Republic Day Parade at Rajpath. The day after, he is expected to visit The Taj Mahal, which he had missed during his earlier visit in 2010.
On January 27, PM Modi and President Obama will hold a joint radio address - the Maan ki Baat, which was started in October last year.
PM Modi said the radio programme will be an interactive session and has invited the people of India to post questions for it by Sunday.
President Obama and PM Modi will be together during at least seven key events -- the ceremonial welcome, bilateral talks, the banquet, the Republic Day parade, the "At Home" by President Pranab Mukherjee, the business events and the joint radio address.
Piyush Goyal, the Minister of State for Power, Coal and Renewable Energy, has been named the minister-in-waiting for President Obama.
The relations between the two countries, which had lagged in the last days of the UPA2 government, have received new momentum since PM Modi has stepped into office. Since September, ten Memorandums on various fronts - space, skill development and science technology - have been signed between India and the US.
India and US have agreed earlier that the US will support India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Negotiations are currently on in London regarding the nuclear liability issues, said Mr Akbaruddin.
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