Ramananda Sengupta By

Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi returned to Delhi on Friday after receiving the Seoul Peace Prize at a brief ceremony at the end of his two-day state visit to South Korea. He was given the award “in recognition of his dedication to improving international cooperation, contributing to the growth of the Indian and global economies & furthering the development of democracy,” the MEA said.

Accepting the award on behalf of the people of India, Modi said that he would donate the $200,000 (about Rs 13 cr) prize money to the Namami Gange Programme, or the Clean Ganga fund. Earlier in the day, after his formal welcome and delegation level talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, the two sides signed six agreements in various fields and agreed to strengthen military ties and defense industry cooperation between the two countries, and also to complete the two nations’ negotiations to upgrade their bilateral free trade pact at an early date.

The “Defence sector has an important role in our growing strategic partnership. An example of this can be seen in the joining of the K-9 “Vajra” artillery gun in the Indian Army,” the Prime Minister noted in his speech after accepting the peace prize.