Indian president arrives in Zambia for state visit

LUSAKA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Indian President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Zambia Tuesday for his three-day state visit to the southern African nation.

He was received by President Edgar Lungu, First Lady Esther Lungu and other government leaders. The arrival, which was streamed live on the Zambian leader's Facebook page, was characterized by dances from various traditional groups.

He later inspected a guard of honor and was accorded a 21 gun salute, according to a statement released by the Zambia Embassy in India.

Zambia's High Commissioner to India Judith Kapijimpanga said the Zambian embassy in India holds the visit in high esteem, especially that tourism and trade volumes have quadrupled, according to the statement.

It was the first time in three decades that a president of India was undertaking a state visit to Zambia, the statement added.

During the visit, the two leaders are expected to hold bilateral talks and witness the signing of several memoranda of understanding aimed at enhancing cooperation in various sectors including the establishment of an Entrepreneurship Development Institute in Zambia, taxation, visa exemption on diplomatic passports and judicial cooperation, according to Zambia's foreign affairs minister Joseph Malanji.

The Indian president is accompanied by First Lady, Savita Kovind, senior government officials and a business delegation.

According to government figures, private investment in Zambia by Indian companies currently stands at over 5 billion U.S. dollars while bilateral trade stood at 1.2 billion dollars from April 2017 to January 2018. Enditem