Spanish King on state visit to India

Spanish King Juan Carlos-I arrived in India late on Wednesday for a four-day state visit. He arrived in the country's financial capital Mumbai and will visit Capital New Delhi tomorrow where he would meet the country's top leadership. The King is accompanied by a high-level ministerial, official and business delegation. He will be accorded a ceremonial welcome on October 26 in New Delhi, after which he would call on President of India Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari and the Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Delegation level talks are expected to take place between the King and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on October 26, and several agreements in the fields of defence, economy, education, infrastructure, transport, energy etc. are likely to be signed. India-Spain bilateral trade in the year 2011 was close to USD five billion, which was almost 18 percent more than in 2010. Spanish investment in India is over USD 1.15 billion, whereas India's total investment in Spain is valued around Euro 605 million. According to Joint Secretary (Europe West) Ruchi Ghanashyam, India and Spain enjoy quite old relations, and the visit of His Majesty is expected to carry forward the process of high-level interaction and deepen the bilateral ties.