PTI
New Delhi, Jun 19: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unlikely to attend the UN General Assembly (UNGA) meet in September as he would prefer to take part in the Non-Alligned Movement Summit taking place around the same time.
Singh has decided to attend the NAM Summit in an effort to boost the 114-country organisation, sources said.
The NAM meet is scheduled to take place from September 11-16 in Cuba. Prior to that Singh will attend the summit meeting of India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) in Brazil, a forum considered important for New Delhi's efforts to forge closer ties with Latin America and Africa.
Sources pointed out that due to these events, Singh is unlikely to attend UNGA meet which starts from September 20.
If the PM is to attend the UNGA also, he will either have to come back and then go again to New York involving a lot of travel, or he may have to stay out of the country for two weeks. However, no final decision has been taken so far.
If Singh skips the UNGA, this will be the second time since the 1999 Kargil war that an Indian prime minister will not attend the meeting.