External Affairs Minister Jaishankar receives Bhutan King at Delhi airport

Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck on Monday began his twoday trip to India with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar receiving him at the airport here reflecting the importance New Delhi has attached to the visitThe King will hold talks with President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on TuesdayWarm welcome to India Your Majesty His Majesty the King of Bhutan Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck arrived in India a short while ago His Majesty was received by EAM DrSJaishankar at the airport External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi tweetedBhutan is a strategically important country for India and the defence and security ties between the two sides have witnessed significant expansion in the last few yearsThe strategic ties witnessed an upward trajectory in the last few years in the backdrop of a 73day faceoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam trijunction in 2017The Doklam plateau is considered an important area for Indias strategic interest The standoff at Doklam trijunction in 2017 began after China tried to extend a road in an area that Bhutan claimed belonged to itIndia had strongly opposed the construction as it would have impacted its overall security interests The IndiaChina faceoff was resolved following several rounds of talksAlso read Efforts to portray India as mother of democracy on abroad S JaishankarIn October 2021 Bhutan and China signed an agreement on a threestep roadmap to expedite negotiations to resolve their festering boundary dispute Bhutan shares an over 400kmlong border with China and the two countries have held over 24 rounds of boundary talks in a bid to resolve the disputeThe King of Bhutan had a transit visit to Delhi in September last year India sent special assistance to Bhutan during the COVID19 pandemic It was the first country to receive Covishield vaccines from IndiaIndia has been providing assistance to Bhutan for implementation of its successive Five Year Plans since 1961 Indias assistance towards Bhutans XII fiveyearplan 201823 was Rs 4500 crore for various multisectoral projects small development projects and direct budgetary supportThere has been significant cooperation between the two sides in the area of hydropower projects India has consistently been Bhutans top trading partner and remains the leading source of investments in BhutanIn November 2021 India formalised the opening of seven new trade routes for Bhutans bilateral and transit trade with India and new market access was provided for allowing formal export of 12 agriproducts from Bhutan to IndiaThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever