Europe's leaders queue to visit India

The Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, has postponed a trip to India until later in the year. His move follows a similar postponement by President Clinton, whose staff recently announced that he will not visit the country until after general elections that begin in February. However, delegations from five European countries will be visiting India this month. As Alastair Lawson reports, their presence indicates the desire of many Western leaders to strengthen business ties with India, even though the country now has a caretaker government that is powerless to make far reaching political decisions.

Even though President Clinton and President Yeltsin will no longer be in India in January, senior delegations from Italy, Poland, Germany, Greece and France will pay visits before the end of the month. The first to visit is the Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi, who is leading a trade delegation that will discuss investment opportunities and bilateral trade.

His visit is closely followed by a similar delegation led by the Polish President, Aleksander Kwasniewski, who is also eager to boost bilateral trade. The Poles are particularly keen to sell tanks and other arms to India, in addition to improving economic co-operation in mining, energy and agriculture.

On Thursday, the German economics minister, Gunter Rexrodt, arrives in India as part of his country's ongoing drive to improve trade links with all of South Asia. The Greek president, Constantinos Stephanopoulos, arrives in India three days after Mr Rexrodt. He is in the country for one week and also hopes to improve bilateral relations.

The last in the long list of European visitors is the French president, Jacques Chirac, who will be in India to celebrate its Republic Day on January 26. Like the visits of his contemporaries, Mr Chirac's trip will have a business and political focus. Most economists agree that the presence of so many European dignitaries reflects the West's belief that despite its political instability, India will soon become a significant economic power in the world.