Jigme Wangchuck's 3-day India visit: NSA Ajit Doval calls on Bhutan King

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National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Tuesday called on Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who arrived in India for a three-day visit on April 3. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday received the Bhutan king at his arrival in the country and later called on him in the evening. Jaishankar noted that Bhutan King's vision for strengthening the unique partnership with India is "deeply appreciated."

The Bhutan King is in India at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu. He will call on President Murmu later today and hold meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The king is accompanied by Bhutan's Foreign Minister Dr Tandi Dorji and other senior officials. King Wangchuck's visit is in keeping with the long-standing tradition of regular high-level exchanges between the two nations, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The MEA noted, "India and Bhutan enjoy unique ties of friendship and cooperation, which are characterized by understanding and mutual trust."

The external affairs minister said that the Bhutan King's visit will give a chance to both nations to review bilateral cooperation and to further advance the close bilateral partnership, including economic and development cooperation.

The unique relationship between India and Bhutan has been preserved by a custom of frequent high-level exchanges between the two nations such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August 2019 and Jaishankar's visits in 2019 and April 2022.

Furthermore, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra visited Bhutan in January this year. Earlier in February 2023, a Parliamentary delegation from Bhutan led by Wangchuk Namgyel, Speaker of the National Assembly of Bhutan called on President Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

While welcoming the delegation in February, President Murmu said that India deeply values the multifaceted and unique friendship between the two countries. She noted that this year Bhutan would graduate from the Least Developed Countries (LDC) group of countries and embark on the path of becoming a High Income Economy by 2034.