Mongolian President gifts horse to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh, the first Indian Defence Minister to visit Mongolia, was gifted a majestic horse by the country's president on Wednesday, seven years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a similar gift from the leadership of the country.

"A special gift from our special friends in Mongolia. I have named this magnificent beauty, ‘Tejas’. Thank you, President Khurelsukh. Thank you Mongolia," Singh tweeted on Wednesday along with pictures of the white horse.

On Tuesday, Singh called on Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh and reviewed the strategic bilateral ties.

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“Excellent meeting with the President of Mongolia, H.E. U. Khurelsukh in Ulaanbaatar. Recalled my last meeting with him in 2018, when he was the Prime Minister of the country. We are fully committed to further deepening our multifaceted Strategic Partnership with Mongolia," he said in a tweet.

In 2015, Prime Minister Modi received a special gift — a brown racehorse — from his then Mongolian counterpart Chimed Saikhanbileg on his historic visit to this country.

Defence Minister Singh is on a five-day visit to Mongolia and Japan from Monday with an aim to expand India's strategic and defence ties with the two countries in the backdrop of evolving regional security matrix and geo-political turmoil.

Singh's visit to Mongolia from September 5 to 7 is the first-ever tour to the East Asian country by an Indian defence minister.