Dimapur: President Ram Nath Kovind and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman have confirmed their participation in this year's annual Hornbill Festival at Kisama, a Naga heritage village 12km from Kohima.

The festival will also be attended by Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Union minister for textiles, information and broadcasting Smriti Irani.

The invitees include Union home minister Rajnath Singh, minister for road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari, DoNER minister Jitendra Singh, minister of state for culture Mahesh Sharma, Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu, Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh and his Assam counterpart Sarbananda Sonowal. They are, however, yet to confirm their participation.

Nagaland chief minister T.R. Zeliang on Tuesday visited Kisama to oversee arrangements for the festival beginning from December 1. A meeting was convened at Kisama bamboo hall and issues related to road maintenance, power supply, security, social work, traffic regulations among others were discussed.