New Delhi, April 4: President Droupadi Murmu will be on state visits to Portugal and Slovakia from April 7-10, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a special briefing on Friday.

President Murmu will visit Portugal from 7-8 April at the invitation of President of Portugal, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The visit is taking place after a gap of 27 years, as the last State Visit took place in 1998 when President K R Narayanan visited Portugal. While from 9-10 April, President Droupadi Murmu will visit the 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.

Speaking to 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 the 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.

Elaborating the details of the visit to Slovak Republic, Secretary (West), Tanmay Lal said, "The state visit of President is a historic visit. It is nearly three decades, since the last President visit to Slovakia from India. This is only the second ever state visit from India to Slovakia. In recent years, there has been lot of political engagement at a very high level."

He highlighted that the visit comes 30 years after the establishment of the Indian embassy in Bratislava, which was done in 1995.

"With Slovakia also, there is a strong political momentum; at the same time, business engagement is going... There is significant Indian investment in Slovakia in a range of sectors from automobiles to engineering to IT. Slovakian businesses are also investing in India, in very diverse fields- manufacturing steel, IT hardware, railways".

Highlighting the elements of the state visit, he said, "There will be delegation-level talks and meeting with the counterpart between the President and the President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini. There will also be a meeting with the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico. The President will also meet the Speaker of the National Council, which is the Parliament of Slovakia, Richard Rasi. The President of Slovakia will host a state banquet in honor of our President, and she will also meet the Indian community."

Highlighting the ties between the two countries, he said, "The relationship also has close cultural ties. There are strong connections and studies of the Sanskrit language in Slovakia. Mahatma Gandhi's works have been translated into the Slovak language. In one of the recent episodes of Man Ki Baat, Prime Minister Modi spoke about the translation of Upanishads into the Slovak language. And I may mention that in 2022, during the evacuation of Indian students from Ukraine, Slovakia extended very valuable help. India-Slovakia relations are also important in the context of India-EU partnership".

He underscored that both these state visits are coming at an important time in the individual bilateral partnerships.

"These will provide a very strong push to our ties, both with Portugal and with Slovakia. They also reflect India's increasing engagement with individual countries in Europe... so we are very much looking forward to these two state visits by the President to Portugal and Slovakia", he said in his remarks. (ANI)

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