A grand official reception was accorded to His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, on Wednesday morning at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the Presidential Palace, welcoming him as the Chief Guest of India’s 68th Republic Day celebrations to be held on Thursday, January 26.

Shaikh Mohammad is on a three-day official visit to India which began on Tuesday.

Shaikh Mohammad and his accompanying delegation were received at the Presidential Palace by India’s President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and a number of senior Indian government officials.

The national anthems of the UAE and India were played, followed by an inspection of the Guard of Honour by Shaikh Mohammad.

Later in the day, Shaikh Mohammad visited Raj Ghat, the memorial site of Mahatma Gandhi, India’s Father of the Nation.

Shaikh Mohammad observed a minute of silence in respect, and laid a wreath on Gandhi’s memorial.

He also wrote in the guest book, “In the history of nations and the memory of peoples, there are immortal personalities and symbols that brought about major transformations in the march of their countries, personalities that were not deterred by challenges and obstacles from accomplishing national objectives in order to achieve a better life for their people. In modern history, the noble values and human principles of the late Gandhi and Zayed will remain a source of inspiration for successive generations to spread love, peace and harmony between peoples, inspire the spirit of ambition, and aspirations for a brighter future.”

Shaikh Mohammad viewed a collection of well-known quotations and sayings by Gandhi and received a commemorative gift at the site.

He toured the garden courtyard, where he watered the friendship tree which had been planted by the late Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan at the Raj Ghat Square during his official visit to India in 1975, and another planted by him during his visit to India in February last year. The garden includes a number of trees planted by world leaders.

Shaikh Mohammad was accompanied by Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs; Shaikh Hamad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chief of the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince’s Court; Shaikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and other senior officials.

source : gulfnews