President Droupadi Murmu will visit Fiji, New Zealand and Timor-Leste next week to take forward bilateral ties with the three countries in areas such as defence and security, trade, education and people-to-people contacts.

• Murmu will meet the top leadership of the three countries and interact with the Indian diaspora on all legs of her tour during August 5-10, secretary (East) Jaideep Mazumdar of the external affairs ministry told a media briefing.
• The visit is in keeping with India’s special focus on Southeast Asia and the Pacific under its Act East policy. 
• This will be first visit by an Indian president to Fiji and Timor-Leste, which is set to become the 11th member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).