The India President, Ram Nath Kovind had embarked on a foreign tour in Europe visiting Cyprus, Bulgaria and Czech Republic which will go on for 2nd-9th September. The tour is undertaken to deepen ties, especially in the economic sphere. Today, the President along with his wife landed in Cyprus’ Larnaca International Airport and was received by Cyprus’s Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Georgios Lakkotrypis.
In earlier reports, the Ministry of External Affairs the President is being accompanied by Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Parshottam Khodabhai Rupala and two other members of the Parliament Ram Shakal and Anil Baluni along with several other officials. He is supposed to hold a meeting with Cyprus’s President Nicos Anastasiades in order to boost the bilateral ties between the two nations. Cyprus being the 8th largest investor of India have a cumulative investment around $9.2 billion and frequent exchanges have been conducted between the two countries the visit of the President is supposed to facilitate the process of strengthening the economic ties further and this tour will play an effective role for that process.
“Happy to begin my visit to Cyprus, one of our closest and most steadfast partners in the international community. My delegation and I bring warm and friendly currents from the Indian Ocean to the waters of the Mediterranean. Looking forward to a productive visit,” tweeted the India President recently.
With the first foreign tour under the second year of his presidency, Mr. Kovind is expected to address Cyprus’ House of Representatives, deliver a lecture at the University of Cyprus and address also the Indian diaspora there. In the upcoming few days in Bulgaria and Czech Republic will be his address to the students in Sofia University. Finally, President Kovind will visit the Czech Republic and hold talks with his President Milos Zeman, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and President of the Chamber of Deputies Radek Vondracek.
“He looks forward to a very rich and substantive programme in all the three countries…business will form a very important part of deliberations and conversations in all three countries,” said Ashok Malik, the President’s Press Secretary.