PM leaves for US, Brazil

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday left for a week-long visit to the US and Brazil to meet President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao and attend a summit on nuclear security.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday left for a week-long visit to the US and Brazil to meet President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao and attend a summit on nuclear security.

The special aircraft carrying the prime minister and his delegation took off from the Palam air force station at 9.40 a.m.

In his departure statement released Friday evening, Singh said India was a "major stakeholder" in addressing issues related to nuclear security. He hoped that the summit will discuss issues related to nuclear terrorism and proliferation, which should be dealt with "firmly".

In the next leg in Brasilia, Singh will participate in the Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) summit and the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) summit.

At both places, he will also hold bilateral meetings with Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, President Hu and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.