Mongolian President, PM Modi unveils Lord Buddha statue

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Mongolia, Khaltmaagiin Battulga on Friday jointly unveiled Lord Buddha statue at Gandan Monastery in Mongolia via video-conferencing.

The statue is a symbol of India-Mongolia spiritual partnership and shared Buddhist heritage.

Battulga arrived in India for a five-day visit with an aim to intensify bilateral ties between the two countries. He was received by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Earlier in the day, Battulga received a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here and was received by President Ram Nath Kovind. He later paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Rajghat here.

The Mongolian President is also scheduled to meet Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.

Battulga's visit to India is the first state visit by a Mongolian President in last 10 years, the MEA said, noting the two sides will hold in-depth discussions on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

It also said the two countries would review ongoing cooperation in fields of infrastructure, energy, disaster management, defence, security, culture, and capacity building.

The two countries had reached a strategic partnership in 2015 during the visit of Prime Minister Modi to Mongolia. A number of high-level exchanges have taken place since then and the partnership has seen considerable progress during the last few years.

(ANI)

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