New Zealand Governor General on week-long India visit

New Delhi, Sept 8 : The Governor General of New Zealand, Anand Satyanand, the first person of Indian origin to occupy the top post in New Zealand is on a week-long visit to India.

Satyanand received a ceremonial welcome by President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Prime Minister Mamohan Singh at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday.

While speaking to reporters after taking the guard of honour he said that his visit is aimed at strengthening the relations between the two countries.

"My visit is an opportunity to deepen and give strengths to the relationship between New Zealand and India," said Satyanand, and added, "At present, relations are warm, distant and need energizing; and I hope that my visit here, which is historic because I am a person of Indian origin, will be able to turn the trade."

He added that apart from bilateral relations and trade, exchange of educational programs would be of top priority.

Satyanand also called on Foreign Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee and leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), L.K. Advani.

New Zealand's Governor General is scheduled to meet other Indian officials to discuss with them a host of bilateral and regional issues.

He will also visit the Mumbai and Hyderabad.

His visit comes after New Zealand dropped its opposition to the Indo-US civil nuclear deal at the 45 member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting in Vienna.

New Zealand, Ireland and Austria were the last three countries of the NSG members to agree to the waiver that has given India access to nuclear technology and fuel.

ANI