Mongolian President receives ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan
Mongolian President receives ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhavan
President of Mongolia, Khaltmaagiin Battulga on Friday received a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.
He was received by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
"I am very happy that I am on a state visit to India with which we have centuries of spiritual and cultural relations and ties. In 1992, Mongolia adopted the first democratic Constitution and in 1994 the first elected President of Mongolia made his first state visit to India. And later in 2009, the President of Mongolia also visited India on a state visit. Ten years after that I am on a state visit to India. Prior to that, in May 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on an official visit to Mongolia," President Battulga told media here.
"All these bilateral high-level visits have consolidated and cemented our economic and other relations and cooperation. We (President Ram Nath Kovind and I) were elected around the same time in July 2017, and I would like to invite the President of India to pay an official visit to Mongolia," he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Battulga arrived in India on a five-day visit with an aim to intensify bilateral ties between the two countries. He was received by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Mongolian President will jointly unveil the statue of Lord Buddha at Gandan Monastery via video conferencing later today.
Battulga will also meet Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan at Rashtrapati Bhawan followed by a meeting with Prime Minister Modi at his residence.
The Mongolian President will also 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