President Droupadi Murmu meets President Chan Santokhi on the Presidential palace in Paramaribo on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
President Droupadi Murmu met her Suriname counterpart Chandrikapersad Santokhi on June 5 and mentioned ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in a number of areas together with defence, IT and capability constructing as the 2 sides exchanged 4 MoUs in varied fields together with well being and agriculture.
Ms. Murmu, who arrived in Suriname on Sunday on a three-day state visit — her first since assuming workplace in July final yr, obtained a heat welcome from President Santokhi on the Presidential palace in Paramaribo.
President Murmu held delegation degree talks with President Santokhi.
“Both the Presidents discussed ways to deepen India-Suriname relations and held wide ranging discussions on multiple areas including defence, agriculture, IT and capacity building,” her workplace mentioned.
India and Suriname exchanged 4 MoUs in varied fields together with well being and agriculture.
“Special covers of stamps to mark 150 years of arrival of Indians in Suriname were presented to President Droupadi Murmu on the occasion. The President symbolically presented a box of medicines to President @CSantokhi as a token of India’s donation of emergency medicines to Suriname,” her workplace mentioned in a tweet.
Later, President Murmu and President Santokhi witnessed a wonderful enactment of arrival of the primary group of Indians within the South American nation aboard the Lalla Rookh by native artists. She inaugurated a simulated village with mannequin habitats, artists and actors depicting the every day lifetime of the early Indian origin communities of Suriname.
The first ship carrying 452 Indian labourers arrived in Suriname’s capital Paramaribo on June 5, 1873. Most of the labourers hailed from japanese Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
“President Murmu paid homage at the Baba and Mai monument, a symbolic representation of the first Indian man and woman, who set foot in Suriname. A solemn occasion to remember the sacrifices and struggles of 34,000 Indians who arrived in Suriname!” her workplace mentioned in one other tweet.
She additionally paid respects at Mama Sranan monument in Suriname.
The monument represents Mama Sranan, or Mother Suriname, holding her 5 kids, the 5 ethnicities that inhabit Suriname with care and affection.
The Indians, who arrived in Suriname as contract labourers for plantations, have maintained their reference to their roots in India.
“While fully assimilating with the local culture, they continued to cherish, uphold and pass down from one generation to another their traditions, rites and rituals, cuisine, language, and folklore and have made a significant contribution in all spheres to the sustainable development of Suriname,” mentioned the Indian embassy in Suriname.
It mentioned Suriname additionally has the excellence of being essentially the most distinguished overseas nation on the planet within the subject of promotion of the Hindi language. The World Hindi Conference 2003 was held in Paramaribo.
In a particular gesture, President Santokhi obtained President Murmu on the airport with full state honours on Sunday.
Mr. Santokhi was in India in January this yr as a visitor of honour for the 17th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas and had met Ms. Murmu.
The President can be in Suriname until June 6 and go to locations of historic and cultural significance. She can even meet a cross-section of the Indian diaspora.
Her go to to the South American nation is a part of her two-nation tour that can even take her to Serbia.