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President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, late Sunday night (local time), marking the beginning of her four-day state visit to Portugal and Slovakia from April 7 to 10.
She is visiting Portugal at the invitation of President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The visit is taking place after a gap of 27 years. The last State Visit took place in 1998 when President K R Narayanan visited Portugal. From April 9-10, President Murmu will visit Slovakia at the invitation of the Slovakia President Peter Pellegrini. It will be the first visit by the President of India to Slovakia in 29 years. Earlier, sharing the post on X on Sunday, Randhir Jaiswal, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson wrote, "President Droupadi Murmu @rashtrapatibhvn emplanes on State visits to Portugal and the Slovak Republic. These are the first State visits to either country by the President of India in more than 25 years." "The visits will further expand India's multifaceted engagement with two important EU partners," the post added. Speaking to the media during the special briefing, Tanmay Lal Secretary (West) MEA, called the visits "two important landmark visits." Sharing the details of the visit to Portugal, Secretary Lal said that the visit becomes historic as it comes when India and Portugal are marking 50 years of diplomatic relations and this visit will "take forward the friendship and partnership." "It is also 27 years since the last visit by a President from India to Portugal. So it's a very symbolic and landmark visit. The President will be traveling to Portugal at the invitation of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal," he said. Secretary Lal highlighted that the last few years show the high level exchange of visits between India and Portugal and that shows the degree of high-level engagement that is ongoing between the two countries. Noting the events in which President Murmu will engage in Portugal, he highlighted that she will hold delegation-level talks with her counterpart, President Sousa. "The President (Sousa) will also host a banquet dinner in her honour. The President will meet Prime Minister Luis Montenegro. She will also meet the Speaker of the Parliament of Portugal, Jose Pedro Aguiar Branco. The Mayor of Lisbon will also host a special event in her honour. President will also meet members of the Indian community in Portugal and she is likely to meet some Indian researchers from various universities and academic institutions," he said. He highlighted that the visit comes 30 years after the establishment of the Indian embassy in Bratislava, which was done in 1995. (ANI)
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