South African President has accepted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to be the chief guest on India’s Republic Day in January 2019. The celebrations are held every year at Rajpath before the President of India.
Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale confirmed that South African President Ramaphosa has accepted the invite. “The PM had a number of bilateral engagements this morning. Argentina PM is keen to make a visit to India in 2019. PM extended invitation to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to be the chief guest for India’s Republic Day in 2019 & Ramaphosa accepted,” the foreign secretary said.
In April, India had extended the invitation to US President Donald Trump to be the chief guest for the Republic Day celebrations, but Trump had turned down the invitation.
The US president’s “domestic commitments”, including his State of the Union address, around that time, seemed to have been the reason for declining the invitation. In the letter, Trump was said to have regretted his inability to accept the invitation.
