President Ram Nath Kovind in Iceland to hold talks with top leadership

Reykjavík (Iceland), Sep 9: President Ram Nath Kovind is in Iceland to hold talks with the country's top leadership and explore areas of bilateral cooperation in geothermal, energy, fisheries and tourism sectors.

President Kovind arrived here on Monday on the first leg of his nine-day three-nation tour to Iceland, Switzerland and Slovenia.

This is the first visit of an Indian President to Iceland since the visit of former president APJ Abdul Kalam in 2005. President Kovind will hold talks with Iceland President Gudni Johannesson and Iceland Prime minister Katrín Jakobsdottir.

He will also deliver a lecture at University of Iceland on India-Iceland partnership toward making a greener planet. He will address the Indian community and meet the Indian business delegation.

Ahead of the visit, Ministry of External Affairs Secretary (West) A Gitesh Sarma said the President's engagements will further boost India's relationship with Iceland, which is the chair of Arctic Council of which India is an observer. Sarma said there is a lot of interest in geothermal, energy, fisheries, tourism, and cultural cooperation with Iceland.