President Droupadi Murmu arrives in New Delhi after concluding historic three-nation European visit
New Delhi, July 26
President Droupadi Murmu on Sunday arrived in New Delhi after concluding her historic three-nation visit to Eastern Europe.
Noting her arrival, Rashtrapati Bhavan wrote in a post on X, "President Droupadi Murmu arrived in Delhi after completing her State visits to Moldova, North Macedonia and Romania."
The President concluded her landmark visits on Saturday, securing key diplomatic breakthroughs with Moldova, North Macedonia, and Romania to significantly bolster bilateral ties across trade, defence, tourism, and core economic sectors.
The diplomatic engagement marked several historic milestones, establishing Murmu as the first Indian head of state to visit both Moldova and North Macedonia. Her arrival in Romania also marked the first visit by an Indian president to the Eastern European nation in over three decades.
During the final leg of her visit to Romania, which began on July 23, New Delhi and Bucharest agreed to double their trade volume over the next three years while deepening defence cooperation and allied strategic areas. President Murmu held comprehensive talks on bilateral relations with Romanian President Nicusor Dan and separately engaged with Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan.
She also addressed the India-Romania Business Forum in Bucharest on Friday and interacted with members of the India-Romania Parliamentary Friendship Group.
Recognising her public leadership and international outreach, the Bucharest University of Economic Studies conferred an honorary doctorate upon President Murmu. The "Doctor Honoris Causa" represents the institution's highest academic distinction, awarded to eminent personalities for exceptional contributions to academia, public service and international cooperation.
Before she departed for the airport on Saturday, President Murmu met with members of the Indian diaspora. Romania currently hosts over 13,500 Indian nationals, including approximately 10,000 workers.
Earlier, during her visit to North Macedonia from July 21 to 22, President Murmu held bilateral discussions with President Gordana Sijanovska-Davkova, which were followed by delegation-level talks. Both nations resolved to double bilateral trade figures and identified joint opportunities in tourism, hospitality, and filmmaking.
During her stay in Skopje, Murmu addressed the Assembly of North Macedonia and presided over the inaugural session of the India-North Macedonia Business Forum.
The European visit commenced on July 20 in Moldova, where President Murmu held extensive talks with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, evaluating the entire spectrum of bilateral engagement.
The two leaders agreed to intensify joint efforts across key sectors, including agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, and innovation.
— ANI
Reader Comments
Finally some good diplomatic news! We need more such visits to Eastern Europe where there's untapped potential. Doubling trade in three years sounds ambitious but achievable. Hope it translates into real benefits for Indian businesses.
As someone who works in international trade, this is a smart move. Eastern Europe is a growing market and India should leverage its soft power. The fact that Murmu is the first Indian president to visit Moldova and North Macedonia in history is significant.
Good to see focus on smaller European nations too. But I hope the defence cooperation agreements are transparent and actually benefit our armed forces. We need more than photo-ops and MoUs. The diaspora engagement in Romania is also important.
Interesting that she visited Moldova, which is quite small. But every country matters in diplomacy. Hope this leads to stronger educational and cultural exchanges too - the honorary doctorate shows academic recognition.
My only concern is whether these visits are followed up with actual implementation. We've seen many MoUs signed but not executed. Hope the ministries take this forward. Good to see tourism and filmmaking mentioned for North Macedonia - that's creative.
Proud moment for India! 🇮🇳 President Murmu is doing a great job representing India globally. The trade doubling target with Romania is very
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