R-day parade

The parade on Republic Day is expected to feature an ASEANIndia tableau, with artistes from member countries performing the Ramayana. The ASEAN countries are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

According to government officials familiar with the matter, each of the ten leaders will arrive at Rajpath in separate convoys and be received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“As of now, it has been decided that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore, which is the Chair of ASEAN for 2018, will be seated between Prime Minister Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind. A final call on the seating arrangement will be taken by the ministry of external affairs shortly,” one of the officials added on condition of anonymity.

In the evening, the leaders will be hosted at the President’s traditional “At Home” reception.

On January 25, the President is expected to host a gala lunch for the guests at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

“Besides Indian dishes, the highlight of the lunch will be South Asian cuisines. The idea is to give the leaders a taste of local flavours from the ASEAN countries. The chefs at Rashtrapati Bhavan are busy giving final touches to the menu that will have Thai, Burmese and Malay dishes among others,” a second