In the first-leg, the President visited London for four days where rare Gandhi memorabilia were handed over to her by NRI entrepreneurs Sir Gulam K Noon and Nathu Puri.
President Pratibha Patil today returned from seven-day State Visit to United Kingdom and Cyprus in which she received rare memorabilia of Mahatma Gandhi, participated in the launch of Queen' Baton Relay for Commonwealth Games and held bilateral talks with the leaders of both countries.
In the first-leg, the President visited London for four days where rare Gandhi memorabilia were handed over to her by NRI entrepreneurs Sir Gulam K Noon and Nathu Puri, who had procured them from an auction in July which she described was the "high-point" of her visit.
She was accorded a red-carpet welcome by the Queen Elizabeth at the Windsor Castle where she saw Indian gifts to the Royal family, attended the state banquet and met leader of opposition David Cameroon and Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg. The President also met Prime Minister Gordon Brown at his office-cum-residence at 10 Downing Street.
The President also received the Queen's Baton for Commonwealth Games, starting the countdown for the next year's games here, at a colourful function in front of Buckingham Palace. She addressed business delegations of both countries and emphasised the need of further cooperation between India and United Kingdom in areas of education, climate change and health care.
In the second leg of her tour, President went to Cyprus where she met President Demetris Christofias. During the two-day trip to the island nation, President Patil asked the business people to increase the bilateral trade between the two countries which was about 68 million US dollars and "much below potential".
During the discussions, Patil told him that there are numerous possibilities of cooperation between the two countries in the areas of Information Technology and knowledge based industry which are focus areas of development of Cyprus's economy.
Patil later visited the House of Representative where she paid floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi and met Marios Garoyan, the President of the House. She also met Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus before leaving back for India.
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