Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee arrived in Berlin on Tuesday on the first leg of his three-nation tour that will seek to strengthen India's bilateral ties with Germany and provide him an opportunity to interact with world's top leaders during an informal G-8 summit in France.

On arrival at Tegel Airport, Vajpayee, who is accompanied by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and Commerce and Industry Minister Arun Jaitley, was accorded a red carpet welcome.

A formal reception with military honours will be given on Wednesday by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The prime minister has a hectic schedule for Wednesday, when he will meet Schroeder, who will host a lunch for him.

Bilateral, political and economic ties will come up for review during the meeting.

The prime minister is also expected to brief the chancellor on his latest peace initiative with Pakistan.

On Thursday, the prime minister will travel to Munich, the hub of German industry, where he will meet top business leaders.

Vajpayee will fly to St Petersburg on May 30 to participate in the tercentenary celebrations of the cultural capital of Russia.
 
US President George W Bush, British Premier Tony Blair and Chinese President Hu Jintao will also be in attendance.

In Evian in France, Vajpayee is among the select non-G-8 leaders invited by French President Jacques Chirac to attend an informal summit on June 1, ahead of the G-8 summit on June 2 and 3.
 
During his stay in St Petersburg and in Evian, the prime minister is expected to have bilateral meetings with a number of  world leaders, including Jintao, Putin and Blair.