List of international prime ministerial trips made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee

This is a list of international prime ministerial trips made by Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his tenure as the Prime Minister of India from March 1998 and May 2004. The first overseas visit was to Sri Lanka to attend the 10th SAARC Summit in July 1998. ^[1]

Summary of international trips

Further information: Foreign relations of India

In his six-year long tenure as the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee made 29 international trips, visiting 32 countries, including visits to the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visits by country

Number of visits	Country
1 visit (20)	Bangladesh, China, Iran, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Laos, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Portugal, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, Vatican City, Vietnam
2 visits (10)	Cambodia, France, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey
3 visits (1)	Russia
5 visits (1)	United States

1998

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
1	Sri Lanka	Colombo	28–31 July	10th SAARC summit	[2]
2	Oman	Salalah	29–30 August	State visit	[2]
	Namibia	Windhoek	30–31 August	State visit	[2]
	South Africa	Durban	1–2 September	12th NAM summit	[2]
	Mauritius	Port Louis	3–4 September	State visit	[2]
3	United States	New York City	22–28 September	United Nations General Assembly	[2]
	France	Paris	29–30 September	State visit	[2]

1999

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
4	Trinidad and Tobago	Port of Spain	8–9 February	State visit	[2]
	Jamaica	Montego Bay	9–12 February	9th G15 summit	[2]
	Morocco	Rabat	13–14 February 1999	State visit	[2]
5	Pakistan	Lahore	20–21 February	State visit	Inauguration of the Delhi–Lahore bus service. [2] [3]
6	Bangladesh	Dhaka	19–20 June	State visit	Inauguration of the Kolkata–Dhaka bus service. [3]
7	South Africa	Durban	12–15 November	1999 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting	[3]

2000

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
8	Mauritius	Port Louis	10–13 March	State visit	[4]
9	Turkey	Ankara	March–April		[4]
10	Italy	Rome	25–27 June	State visit	[4]
	Vatican City	Vatican City	26 June	State visit	[4]
	Portugal	Lisbon	28–29 June	State visit	[4]
11	United States	New York City, Washington, D.C.	5–17 September	Millennium Summit State visit	Vajpayee was the only foreign leader to have addressed the joint session of the 106th United States Congress. [5] [4]
	Germany	Berlin	18–19 September	State visit	[4]

2001

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
12	Vietnam	Hanoi	7–10 January	State visit	[4]
	Indonesia	Jakarta	10–14 January	State visit	[4]
13	Iran	Tehran	10–13 April	State visit	[6]
14	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	13–16 May	State visit	[6]
15	Russia	Moscow	4–7 November	State visit	[6]
	United States	New York City, Washington, D.C.	7–11 November	State visit and United Nations General Assembly	Official working visit from 7-9 Nov. UNGA from 10 Nov. [5] [6]
	United Kingdom	London	12–13 November	State visit	[6]
16	Japan	Tokyo	7–11 December	State visit	[6]

2002

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
17	Nepal	Kathmandu	3–6 January	11th SAARC summit	[6]
18	Cambodia	Phnom Penh	9–11 April	State visit	[7]
19	United States	New York City	12 September	United Nations General Assembly	Met with President George W. Bush at the UN General Assembly in New York City. [5]
20	Cambodia	Phnom Penh	4–6 November	1st India–ASEAN summit	[8]
	Laos	Vientiane	6–8 November	State visit	[9]

2003

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
21	Malaysia	Kuala Lumpur	22–25 February	13th NAM summit	[9]
22	Germany	Berlin	27–28 May	State visit	[9]
	Russia	Saint Petersburg	29 May–1 June	Tercentenary celebrations of the city	[9]
	France	Évian-les-Bains	1–3 June	29th G8 summit	[9]
23	China	Beijing, Luoyang	22–27 June	State visit	[9]
24	Turkey	Ankara, Istanbul	16–19 September	State visit	[9]
	United States	New York City	20–28 September	United Nations General Assembly	Met with President George W. Bush at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on 24 September. [5] [9]
25	Indonesia	Denpasar	5–8 October	2nd India-ASEAN summit	[9]
	Thailand	Bangkok	8–12 October	State visit	[9]
26	Sri Lanka	Colombo	19–22 October	State visit	[9]
27	Russia	Moscow	11–13 November	State visit	[9]
	Tajikistan	Dushanbe	13–14 November	State visit	[9]
	Syria	Damascus	14–16 November	State visit	[9]
28	Nigeria	Abuja	4–7 December	2003 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting	[9]

2004

	Country	Areas visited	Date(s)	Purpose	Notes
29	Pakistan	Islamabad	3–6 January 2004	12th SAARC summit	[9]

See also

• Premiership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee
• List of international trips made by prime ministers of India
• History of Indian foreign relations

References

1. Narayanan Kutty, Sumitha; Ladwig III, Walter C. (March 2025). "Nonresident Prime Ministers? Measuring India's Foreign Policy Orientation via Leadership Travel". International Studies Quarterly. 69 (1).
2. "Annual Reports Prior to 1999 : Annual Report 1998-1999".
3. "Indiaís Neighbours".
4. "Introduction and Synopsis".
5. "India - Visits by Foreign Leaders - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
6. "India's Neighbours".
7. "Annual Report 2004–2005".
8. "Bilateral Brief - India-Cambodia". www.indembassyphnompenh.org. Archived from the original on 2 May 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
9. "Annual Report (1 january 2003 - 31 march 2004)".

External links

• Outgoing Visits – by Ministry of External Affairs
• Nonresident Prime Ministers? Measuring India’s Foreign Policy Orientation via Leadership Travel by Sumitha Narayanan Kutty and Walter C. Ladwig III