Modi's visit successful, especially in terms of heart-to-heart connect: Bhutan PM

Bhutan Prime Minister Lotay Tshering on Sunday said that the two-day visit of his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi was a successful one in terms of strengthening "heart-to-heart" connection of the two countries. Terming it a "spiritual experience", Tshering added that local deities 'held up rain' and helped in making the visit successful.

"We are very happy to report that Prime Minister Modi's visit which was for only two days was a successful visit in terms of what we wanted to get and what we could give, mainly in terms of heart-to-heart connection," said Lotay Tshering while addressing a press conference in Paro after Modi's departure.

"The theme of the visit is human touch, though the visit was an official visit from our side and from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's side, it was a very-very spiritual and friendly visit," he added.

He also thanked local deities for the successful conclusion of visit saying that they held up the rain and contributed in making Modi's visit successful.

"All officers and agencies involved did their job well but behind the scenes were Bhutanese people especially from Thimphu and Paro who took all the trouble, teachers and students who came out in large numbers to welcome Prime Minister Modi. Local deities also did their job well by holding rains and giving us favourable weather yesterday," said the Bhutanese Prime Minister.

Yesterday, nine MoUs and one power purchase agreement were exchanged between New Delhi and Thimpu in the presence of Modi and his Bhutanese counterpart at the Semtokha Dzong at Semthoka on Saturday.

"The venue of the event Semtokha Dzong which is 400 years old is unique as it is first of the kind for the bilateral meeting or event. It probably gave an extra touch to Prime Minister Modi's heart. He would never get such an opportunity anywhere else in the world," he said.

" The lunch hosted by King this morning was very exceptional," he added. People of Bhutan bid farewell to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he made his way to Paro from Thimphu after attending the lunch hosted by the Bhutanese King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, in his honour on Sunday.

Further, replying to the queries of media persons he said that no specific MoU was signed on tourism.

At least seven out of the nine MoUs are in the field of education. Five projects including the RuPay rollout and the Mangdechhu hydroelectric power plant were also inaugurated by Modi and Tshering in Semthoka. The ISRO-built Ground Station for South Asian Satellite was also remote launched during the event yesterday.

Amongst other things, India has made the commitment to give Rs 5,000 crores to Bhutan as development assistance for its 12th 5-year plan, which began earlier this year. The 1st tranch of funds for the plan has already been released by New Delhi.