New Delhi: Vice President Hamid Ansari today embarked on a visit to oil-rich South Sudan to witness the birth of the world`s youngest nation at a ceremony in Juba tomorrow.
Ansari will represent India at the independence ceremony in Juba, the capital of the the world`s 193rd country.
The Vice President will also hold a bilateral meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni in Kampala enroute to South Sudan.
South South had reached a comprehensive peace agreement with North Sudan in 2005, brokered by US Secretary of State Colin Powell under former President George W Bush, that stopped a two-decade-long civil war and paved the way for a referendum in January this year.
India was one of the first Asian countries to open a consulate in Juba in 2007.