President Ram Nath Kovind departed for a three-nation tour comprising of a visit to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia to hold talks with the top leadership of the respected countries and strengthen bilateral ties, on late Sunday, September 8. He will visit Iceland from September 9 to September 11 and head to Switzerland thereafter, to finally arrive at Slovenia on September 15. He will head back to India on September 17. 

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Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted about the President’s visit

The President's twitter handle stated that this will be his first visit to the Nordic country Iceland and the first by an Indian President to Slovenia and that he looks forward to his engagement with the top leadership of the host countries, business communities, Indian diaspora and university students.

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President's high-level international visits so far

Earlier this year, President Kovind had embarked on a tri-nation tour of West African countries namely Benin, Guinea Conakry and Gambia which was the highest level visit from India ever to the three West African countries. Soon after taking office in 2017, Kovind’s first visit abroad was to Ethiopia and Djibouti, followed by Madagascar and Mauritius in 2018.

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Pakistan closes its airspace to Indian flights

Amid the stand-off between India and Pakistan due to abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan on Saturday had refused India's request to allow President Kovind to use its airspace for his flight to Iceland.

In New Delhi, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said India had regretted Pakistan's decision to not allow the President to use its airspace.

"We regret the decision of Pakistan government to deny overflight clearance for a VVIP special flight which is otherwise granted routinely by any normal country. We call on Pakistan to recognize the futility of such unilateral actions," Kumar had said.

Pakistan had closed its airspace to Indian traffic in February after India's air-strike retaliation to the Pakistan-sponsored suicide-bomb attack that martyred 40 Indian soldiers in Pulwama, Kashmir. It reopened its skies for all civilian traffic in July, ending months of restrictions and closed the airspace again on Saturday.

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