Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara arrived in Agra on Tuesday to visit the Taj Mahal and were welcomed by welcomed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

He was accorded a traditional welcome by Braj folk artists on his arrival at the airport, the chief minister’s office said on Twitter.

Grand traditional welcome of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu by Braj folk artists on his arrival at Agra Airport, Uttar Pradesh. pic.twitter.com/YyOcw8TxDa

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— CM Office, GoUP (@CMOfficeUP) January 16, 2018

After their arrival, the Netanyahu couple and the delegation accompanying them drove to the Amar Vilas hotel in the Taj city. Later, Netanyahu and his wife then drove to the Taj Mahal where they are to spend more than an hour, according to media reports.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the VVIP visit and the Taj, the iconic Mughal mausoleum on the south bank of the Yamuna, will be closed for common visitors till the Israeli Prime Minister leaves.

No car or person was allowed to be in a periphery of 500 metres around the Taj since morning.

Guides of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) are to take the Netanyahu couple around the Taj Mahal and apprise them about the architecture and the love story of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.

The Israeli prime minister is scheduled to inaugurate the third edition of the geo-political conference, ‘Raisina Dialogue’, in Delhi later today.

Earlier, nine agreements were signed between the two countries after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu held delegation talks.

Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to India, which marks 25 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, comes six months after Modi became the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the Jewish state in July last year.

In a sign of growing importance to the ties with Israel, the government on Sunday renamed Delhi’s Teen Murti Chowk as Teen Murti-Haifa Chowk after the Israeli city.

Netanyahu’s entourage includes the largest-ever delegation of Israeli business people of some 130.

This is the first visit to India by an Israeli Prime Minister since Ariel Sharon came in 2003.

(With agency inputs)