Modi gifts shawls, bracelet to Trump and Melania

Washington: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has presented US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania a range of gifts including a hamper containing a traditional, handcrafted silver bracelet and hand-woven shawls from Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

During his first face-to-face meeting with the First Family at the White House on Monday, Modi also gave Trump a folio containing an original commemorative postage stamp issued by India 52 years ago to mark the death centenary of former US President Abraham Lincoln.

The stamp honoured the memory of Lincoln and symbolized the closeness of the ideals he stood for and which drove Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian Prime Minister’s Office said in a tweet.

The US President was also presented a wooden chest with intricate inlay pattern, a speciality of Hoshiarpur in Punjab, as well as tea and honey from Kangra valley in Himachal Pradesh.

Later Trump gave Modi a guided tour of the President’s residence quarters in White House, including Lincoln bedroom, and showed him a copy of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address and the desk on which he wrote it.

Trump said it was “a great honour” to host Modi “who has been such a great PM”. (IANS)