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18 June 2014, Learn At China

India’s Modi arrives in Bhutan to woo neighbour

Amit Bhandari, Energy and Environment Fellow, Gateway House highlights the importance that the Narendra Modi-led government places on strengthening India's relationship with Bhutan

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India’s Narendra Modi arrived in Bhutan Sunday on his first foreign trip since becoming prime minister, stepping up a charm offensive with neighbours to try to check China’s influence in the region. The Hindu nationalist premier was met at the airport by his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay at the start of a two-day visit to the tiny Buddhist kingdom, a month after his landslide election victory. Modi said relations with Bhutan “will be a key foreign policy priority of my government”.“India and Bhutan enjoy a unique and special relationship… forged by ties of geography, history and culture,” he said in a statement late Saturday, adding that Bhutan was a “natural choice” for his first visit.