President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday told a parliamentary delegation from Papua New Guinea, an Oceanian country, that such visits would help build understanding and strengthen bilateral co-operation between the two countries.
A parliamentary delegation, led by Speaker of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea Theo Zibang Zurenuoc, called on the president at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, according to an official statement.
Welcoming the delegation on their first visit to India, the president said such visits between representatives of the people of the two countries will also help build co-operation in multilateral fora on regional and global issues of common interest.
The country of over seven million people, Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia in 1975. Its constitution is based on the Indian constitution.
Mukherjee said relations between India and Papua New Guinea were founded on shared values of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
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Both countries shared commonality of views on most global issues and had been co-operating in international fora such as the Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement and the UN, the president said.
Speaker Zurenuoc described India as the greatest democracy in the world, the statement said.