By IANS
New Delhi : India and Bhutan will sign a defining agreement on a new hydropower plant during External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's three-day visit to Thimphu from Friday.
India and Bhutan will sign a landmark agreement on setting up 1,095 megawatt Punat-Sangcchu-I project during the minister's visit, external affairs ministry spokesperson Navtej Sarna told reporters Wednesday.
The Punat-Sangcchug-I project is a run-of-the-river project, the largest of its kind to be funded by the Indian government in that country.
The two sides will also discuss ways to jointly upgrade border management, infrastructure and border links, he added. India and Bhutan share a 700 km border.
Mukherjee will meet his Bhutanese counterpart Dasho Yanki T. Wangchuk and call on Bhutan's 27-year-old king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Prime Minister Khandu Wangchuk and discuss with them an entire range of bilateral and regional issues.
This will be Mukherjee's second visit in the past year to the Himalayan kingdom that is readying for its date with democracy next year.
Hydroelectric power is a key pillar of India-Bhutan relations.
Last year, the two countries signed an agreement according to which India will buy 5,000 megawatt of electricity by 2020. India has invested over $ 1 billion in three hydroelectric plants in Bhutan.
Mukherjee will head to Manila from Thimphu to attend the meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) Monday.
India and Bhutan are modernising their traditional ties and signed an updated treaty of friendship during the Bhutanese king's visit to India in February.
India remains Bhutan's most important trade and development partner, accounting for over 90 percent of Bhutan's exports and 50 percent of its imports.