Bhutan Foreign Minister arrives today on 3-day visit
Bhutanese Foreign Minister Lyonpo Damcho Dorji will arrive here today on a three-day visit during which both sides are expected to discuss a range of key issues including ways to further boost strategic cooperation.
His visit here comes a fortnight after Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval travelled to Bhutan.
Dorji will hold extensive talks with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj besides meeting a number of other leaders, official sources said.
All bilateral issues of mutual interest will be discussed during Dorji's visit, said a source.
Earlier this month, Gen. Rawat, Doval and Gokhale had quietly travelled to Bhutan during which they held extensive talks with the top brass of the Bhutanese government on the situation in Doklam, authoritative government sources had told PTI.
The sources said the two sides had deliberated on China's increasing military posturing and infrastructure development in the key Doklam plateau. The visit took place between February 6 and 7.
The visit by Gen. Rawat, Doval and Gokhale was the first such high-level trip from India to Bhutan after the Doklam standoff and it was kept under wraps by the Bhutanese and Indian sides.
Troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day-long standoff in Doklam from June 16 last year after the Indian side stopped the building of a road in the disputed Doklam tri-junction by the Chinese Army. Bhutan and China have a dispute over Doklam. The face-off ended on August 28.
As a close friend and neighbour, Bhutan enjoys diplomatic and military support from India.
China and Bhutan are engaged in talks over the resolution of the dispute in the area.
Army sources said China has been keeping its troops in north Doklam and significantly ramping up its infrastructure in the area.
In November last, the King of Bhutan, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, had visited India.
