Prez Mukherjee to fly next week

The Dollar Business Bureau

President Pranab Mukherjee will fly to Papua New Guinea and New Zealand in the coming week, where scores of agreements are expected to be inked during his first visit.

The tour will start in Papua New Guinea, on April 28, and deals in aspects of education, connectivity, health, agriculture, economic and dairy farming are likely to be signed.

The official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs Vikas Swarup revealed that Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal and a delegation of MoP will accompany the President.

Papua New Guinea, the largest island country in the Pacific, is rich in natural resources. Peter O'Neill, the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, visited India in 2015 to attend a summit. AS a result, agreement of cooperation between India and Papua in fields of infrastructure, health and capacity building are underway.

On 30th April, the President will arrive in New Zealand. In Swarup’s word, India and New Zealand have close ties and both the countries are expecting agreements for cooperation in dairy, agriculture, food processing, skill development, education and technology as well. “The Indian diaspora of 175,000 helps to further cement our ties," Swarup said.

Earlier in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his News Zealand counterpart John Key in Washington, on the sidelines of Nuclear Security Summit. The two leaders discussed to enhance bilateral ties and improve cooperation in technology, trade and tourism.

John Key made his first state visit to India in 2011 when India-New Zealand was pursuing Foreign Trade Agreement (FTA). He was accompanied by his wife Bronagh Key and a contingent of officials from the New Zealand government.