Historic: Indian President Makes First Ever Visit
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee began his visit to Israel – the first ever official visit by an Indian president – on Wednesday at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem.
President Reuven Rivlin hosted the visiting dignitary, and the two held a review of a guard of honor before being welcomed by a wide array of Israeli and visiting Indian officials, including ministers, parliament members and religious leaders.
“Even as a president of a country, as wonderful as India, or Israel, it is not every day that one truly has the chance to make history,” said Rivlin. “But today, we together are making history. So for the first time ever, as President of the State of Israel I have the honor of saying to you, as President of India, ‘welcome to Israel, welcome to Jerusalem.'”
“Our two peoples have very long histories, yet our two countries are still very young. We share many common concerns and challenges; both internally, and externally, and I look forward to speaking with you about our strong cooperation and partnership on these important issues.”
“Indians and Israelis are working together – not only on breakthroughs in the supply of basic foods and water, but are also working together to create the highest level of technology,” added the president. “We are working to safeguard the environment, we are working to develop academic study, and we are working to keep our peoples safe in the face of terrorism and fundamentalism.”
President Mukherjee responded by thanking Rivlin and noting that India’s Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment had joined him in the visit, together with a delegation of parliamentarians and educators.
“I greatly look forward to my discussions with His Excellency the President of Israel, and other political leaders. We will engage on a wide range of issues of shared interest, and my officials and the senior members of my delegation will meet their Israeli counterparts to discuss ways to take forward our bilateral relationship, and explore new avenues of corporation and partnership,” said the Indian president.
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