In the first leg of his five-day, three-nation visit to Africa, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will gift 200 cows to Rwanda. It will be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda. His visit starts as Chinese President Xi Jinping winds up his state visit of Rwanda.

During his stay, Modi will hold delegation-level talks with Rwandan President Paul Kagame and interact with the Indian community. Located a few degrees south of the Equator in Central and East Africa, Rwanda is one of the smallest countries on the African mainland. It has charity programme called 'send a cow' to help farmers out of poverty. Modi will travel to Rweru model village and gift the cows as India's contribution to President Kagame's flagship 'Girinka' or 'One Cow Per Poor Family' programme to provide every poor family in the country with suitable livestock. Instead of transporting cattle from India, they will be sourced locally so they are adapted to the natural surroundings of the region. Ministry of External Affairs' Secretary (Economic Relations) TS Tirumurti, who worked on the specifics of the Rwanda visit, called this an 'important element' of the PM's programme.

In the second leg, PM Modi will visit Uganda, also a first visit by an Indian PM in over 20 years.

Modi is travelling with a 100-member business delegation.

AFRICAN SAFARI

It will be the first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Rwanda. His visit starts as Chinese President Xi Jinping winds up his state visit of Rwanda