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I am delighted to be present at the GOPIO London 2010 Conference. I am happy to see many familiar faces in the audience; distinguished members of the Indian diaspora.
As the Prime Minister said while inaugurating the 8th Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in January this year “We are immensely proud of the achievements of our diaspora. Your achievements have made a great contribution in changing the image of India to the world at large.”
We in India have always attached importance to our diaspora. This is now well institutionalized and our effort is to further deepen and diversify our interaction with you.
During the deliberations at this meeting, your focus is on the role of the diaspora in the new economic world order. Following the financial and economic crisis, out of which the world community continues to struggle to find a satisfactory way out, the focus subject of your discussions has acquired even greater salience. Your panelists have extensive experience of economic and financial issues and will no doubt be able to generate very sound advice that would be of relevance not only to us in India but to the wider international community. If I may be so bold as to venture, the sensible practices that Indian business and banks have been following can serve as a benchmark for those trying to work their way out of the aftermath of the crisis. Indeed, the crisis offers opportunities not only to Indian business and banks but also to the Indian diaspora to further expand their range and scope of activities. If this does happen, it would provide vital growth impetuses particularly in those countries that have been most affected by the economic and financial crisis.
In my stay in the UK over the last one year and more, I have attempted to interact as extensively as feasible with our diaspora. I have found this interaction educative, exciting and productive. The manner in which the community in the UK has assimilated is praiseworthy. Perhaps we now need to move to the next step of greater integration.
Our community in the UK and in other parts of the world is playing a progressively greater part in the politics of the country of their adoption. This is a welcome trend and we would encourage it. What we would also like to see, however, is much greater involvement of the youth of our diaspora in matters that are India-related and with their ancestoral country.
I believe that an important function that the current GOPIO Conference is intended to serve is to bring together our diaspora from different parts of the world. This is a praiseworthy objective and while you work at it, you would no doubt bear in mind the different situations of our diaspora in different countries. Just as we must back home, you will need to bear in mind that even in diaspora matters, we need to build unity in diversity.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you are all ambassadors of India in your own special way. We take pride in the manner in which you project Indian culture, our ethos and our traditions. You also provide a vital medium for us to project the democratic values and traditions that we in India are so proud of especially, our traditions of tolerance and secularism.
Our diaspora plays a useful role in our socio-economic development. While we greatly appreciate what you are already doing, we want you to do much more. India’s is an economy on a secular high growth path. There are productive and profitable opportunities available at every corner. We urge you to take full advantage of these.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you, the diaspora have a justified reputation for being law-abiding, hard working and friendly. You contribute enormously to the countries where you reside and yet take pride in the country of your origin, its traditions and values. You have several accomplishments to your credit. In this process, many of you have suffered much hardship and made sacrifices. We are proud of your achievements and we are proud to celebrate these with you.
I wish you success in your deliberations.
Thank you.
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