Africa-Press – Liberia. I congratulate you all on the auspicious occasion of the 74th Republic Day of India and Basant Panchmi (spring festival).
I warmly welcome you all to the Flag Hoisting function on the occasion of the 74th Republic Day of India being celebrated as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. I am thankful to you all that, despite it being a working day, you all have turned up in big numbers.
I will brief you on some important developments of the recent past. India assumed the Presidency of the G20 on 1st December, 2022. Throughout 2023 more than 100 high level important meetings and Summits will take place, under our Hon. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji’s initiative of “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
In order to provide a forum to the voices of developing and least developed countries, India under the vision of our Hon. Prime Minister, organised virtually the Voice of Global South Summit on 12-13 January, 2023 in which 125 countries participated. The Summit had 10 Sessions – the inaugural and concluding Sessions were attended by the Heads of States and Heads of Governments Session followed by Ministerial Sessions on Foreign Affairs, Energy, Environment, Education, Finance, Commerce and Trade, etc. Health Minister of Liberia, Dr. Wilhemina Jallah, participated in the Health Session on the theme ”Cooperation to Build Resilient Health Care Systems”. This move has been appreciated by the Liberian Gov’t. I am sure Liberia’s participation would lead to enhanced bilateral cooperation in the health sector. The Health Session was also prominently covered by 2 main newspapers of Liberia.
We are working with the Liberian Government on many important sectors including capacity building of Liberian government officials. In this financial year we have sent 4 scholars for under and post graduate courses in prestigious Indian universities, 1 official from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs for Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats, 3 scholars for training in different fields under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme and 4 Liberian Armed Forces Officers for defence training in different defence institutes of India. These are all expenses paid scholarships including the airfare.
Deputy Defence Minister of Liberia led a delegation to India in October, 2022 for Defence Expo-2022 and India-Africa Defence Dialogue and the Deputy Defence Minister would again visit India in February, 2023 to participate in Defence Ministers Conclave-2023.
2023 has been declared as the International Year of the Millets-2023 [BAJRA] by the United Nations General Assembly. It was an initiative of the Hon. Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, sponsored by the Government of India. The Embassy would be promoting the Millets and organise suitable events in this regard. We look forward to everyone’s participation for promotion of Millets.
We have received final approvals for starting passport and visa services and have ordered the necessary IT equipment for these services. The Embassy hopes to start these services soon which will facilitate faster issuance of Visas and passports. We have also taken the first floor of this building with the back garden so that we have enough space for passport, visa and other services and also to organise some events. I appreciate the understanding shown by the community in this regard and we look forward to working with all of you, with support and cooperation of everyone.
Now, I will read out in Hindi the Address of the Hon. President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu ji, which was delivered on the eve of the Republic Day.
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