George W. Bush is due in India on Friday, a country once said to love the famously unpopular former US president, where he will deliver a speech on multilateralism, an official told AFP.

Bush, whose foreign policy during his eight-year tenure was marked by a firm belief in US unilateral power, will address a leadership summit on Saturday on America "re-engaging" with the world.

"The theme of his speech on Saturday is 'America re-engaging with the World: Challenges, Opportunities and Risks,'" said the official who has knowledge of his plans but did not want to be named.

The two-day Hindustan Times event starts on Friday and will also be addressed by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah and others.

Singh, who told Bush that "the people of India deeply love you" during a visit last September, will meet the former president over a private meal at his residence, a second official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.

Bush left the White House in January with rock-bottom approval ratings and has made few public appearances since, avoiding publicly criticising his successor Barack Obama, who has made a priority of international diplomacy.

He said in March that Obama "deserves my silence" but was reported in June to have taken issue with some policies of the new regime in a speech to business leaders in US state Pennsylvania.

The Texan is credited with pushing laws through the US Congress lifting a three-decade-old embargo against India's civilian nuclear programme and allowing New Delhi access to Western technology and cheap atomic energy.

It was during Bush's tenure that India and the United States moved from "bitter estrangement to tentative engagement" over a whole range of issues, said analyst C.U. Bhaskar, who heads the National Maritime Foundation think-tank.

Earlier this year, Bush visited South Korea for a trade meeting.