Secretary, Ministry of Tourism Shri Parvez Dewan,
Hon’ble Minister for Tourism & Culture, Jammu & Kashmir Shri Gulam Ahmad Mir,
Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism & Culture, J&K Shri Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo,
Members of Indian Tourism delegation,
Tour operators of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Distinguished guests.
I am delighted to be here amongst this distinguished gathering. I welcome the delegation from India and my friends from Saudi Arabia this evening.
Our meeting today is taking place when we are in the middle of a major exercise aimed at helping our brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia who are trying to change their visa status. What we have witnessed here in the last two months has been unprecedented. Our community in Saudi Arabia joined hands with the Embassy and launched a drive to identify the difficulties that we face in Saudi Arabia. We have been able to put across these issues to the Saudi authorities.
I am so grateful to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the leadership of Saudi Arabia for announcing a series of measures aimed at helping the Indian community regularize their status or to return to India without facing penal action. We are now working overtime with the participation of the community in utilizing the grace period announced by His Majesty. Our Indian community schools are involved and our volunteers are involved. I urge the community to keep up the good work. Indian community is the most preferred community by the Saudi authorities and nationals for the hard work, discipline and law abiding nature. We will do nothing that violates Saudi laws. We will respect and obey Saudi laws in its letter and spirit. A streamlined Saudi labour market is in the interest of India and Indians. We will work with the Saudi authorities to ensure that this process will help every Indian worker.
Now let me talk about what we have assembled here today for. Saudi Arabia is part of our extended neighborhood. We have lot of common factors. We have historical and civilisational links. We know each other for several thousands of years. Our trade relations can be traced back to centuries. This commonality is not getting reflected in the number of Saudi nationals visiting India during recent years. We have several thousands of tourists from Saudi Arabia travelling to India every year. The figure during 2010 (January to December) was 27,000 which increased to 40,000 during 2012 (January to December). But given the proximity and the common factors that exist between our two peoples, I believe that we are not any where near to the actual potential that exists.
I thank the Ministry of Tourism for organizing this road show to showcase what India offers. Last year we held similar road shows. We need to do more. We need to follow up on such shows. We need to remain in regular touch with the tour operator and tourists. We need to have an interactive website to update the tour operators and tourists on what India can offer to them. We need to have India shows in Saudi Arabia almost every day. Every Indian here should be a representative of India to showcase India in Saudi Arabia and attract Saudis to visit India. We need to do some retrospection on why this is not happening. In coming weeks we would be organizing regular tourism promotion events in all major cities of Saudi Arabia by utilizing the services of Indian companies and community there.
Many factors have shaped the course of Indian history, one among them being the physical character of its diverse land. This landmass of great diversity includes the world’s highest, oldest and youngest snow – laden mountains, some of the oldest geographical formations, deserts, rain forests, tropical islands, fertile river valleys and an extensive coast line. In ancient times finding a passage to India was an obsession with sailors and adventurers, resulting in the discovery of a new continent of America.
The greatness of India lies in its spirit of adaptability and to absorb the waves of different world cultures that reached its land and shores. The streams of different cults and cultures have flowed and the scores of other races and nationalities interacted with India and were absorbed in its vastness to make us what we are and what we will be. India was a destination for people and culture from across the world. People with mixed cultures inter-mingled and a new India emerged influenced by all yet retaining its old identity.
India has a variety of cultures, languages, ethnic groups, beliefs and lifestyle. The past is ever present and centuries old heritage sites, forts, palaces and monuments happily co-exist with the modern India. India is a natural bouquet where each region has its own colors, fragrance and beauty to mesmerize.
UNESCO’s list contains 28 world heritage sites in India including 5 natural sites. Glimpse of these finest treasures of civilization and nature compels us to think about the India’s antiquity and glorious past adequately mingling with the promising present. Our ancient culture and heritage are the biggest strengths of our tourism products. The ancient Indian saying “ATITHI DEVO BHAVA” i.e. “Guest is like God” aptly summarizes our sense of respect for visitors and tourists.
In recent years our age old cultural relationship has been strengthened by regular interaction at political level and people to people level and through cultural exchanges. The land mark visit of the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques His Majesty Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud in January 2006 to India and the return visit of Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in February 2010 have strengthened our bilateral relations in all spheres. We today have a strategic partnership which covers political, economic, defence and security relationship.
Successful organization of “Saudi Cultural Week” in New Delhi during October 2011, visit of 40 member Saudi Youth delegation to interact with their counterpart in India during March- April 2012, Celebration of “Indian Cultural Week” during November 2012 in Riyadh hosted by Ministry of Culture &Information- Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have generated keen interest in developing further cultural interactions between our two countries.
We are also doing all that the Embassy could do to ease the visa process. My colleague will brief you on the visa process today.
I would like to conclude by thanking all of you for joining us here today. I invite all our Saudi brothers to visit India and experience our land of many splendors.
Thank you.