Bhutan King arrives in Assam for three-day visit, to meet CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Bhutanese diaspora

Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk arrived in Guwahati on Friday as he kicked off his week-long visit to India.

The 43-year-old king of the neighbouring Himalayan country will leave for New Delhi on Sunday where he is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and other senior officials of the Govt of India.

The king was received by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his cabinet colleagues and senior officials of the state government at the Lokpriya Gopinath International Airport.

#WATCH | Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma receives the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck upon his arrival in Guwahati.

The King is on an official visit to India from 3-10 November.​ During the visit, he will meet PM Modi. EAM and senior officials of Govt of India… pic.twitter.com/PqfINvnoQu

— ANI (@ANI) November 3, 2023

The king was offered Assam’s traditional ‘Gamocha’, and he greeted the chief minister and his cabinet colleagues with folded hands.

As part of his three-day trip to Assam, the king is likely to visit the famed Kamakhya Temple atop the Nilachal Hills in the city. He will meet the Bhutanese diaspora in Guwahati later in the day.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will call upon the king in the evening.

A cultural programme and a dinner will be hosted in his honour by Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.

The king and his entourage will leave for the Kaziranga National Park, famed for its one-horned rhino, on Saturday.

The chief minister said that the visit of ‘His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk in Assam is eagerly anticipated’.

‘His royal presence will further strengthen the cherished bonds between our two nations’, Sarma had posted on ‘X’.

As a gesture of goodwill, the state cabinet had on Wednesday approved the reservation of three MBBS seats for the Royal Government of Bhutan– two in the Nalbari Medical College Hospital and one in the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Medical College and Hospital.

India and Bhutan share a 649-km-long border, of which a 267-km boundary is with Assam.