Opening of the Days of India
Excellencies,
Minister of State,
Mr Goel,
President of the Hamburg Parliament,
Consul General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
In the name of the Senate of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, I would like to welcome you most cordially to our Rathaus, our Town Hall.
Today we are opening an event entitled: Days of India in Germany Connecting Cultures. This is an easy task for us, one that fills us with great pleasure for the cultural relationships between our countries reach far back into the past. Many Europeans have been drawn again and again toward learning about Indian philosophy, religion and music. Of course, these included people from the City of Hamburg, which has long considered itself to be the Gateway to the World.
This particularly pertained to younger people who considered themselves to be sociocritical and who were looking for alternative paths they felt were deeper and more spiritual than those that were prevalent at home.
At the same time, of course, the Indian culture has been undergoing constant change. Literature, music, and the cinema are always providing new surprises, insights, and points of contact. India Year in Germany will make all of this gain even more in momentum. Hamburg is very much looking forward to a year in the course of which we will be learning so much more about the fascinating land of India.
India Year in Germany also reminds us of a significant event, for it is taking place on the 60th anniversary of the beginning of diplomatic relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of India. In 1952, India became the first country in what we saw as the Far East to diplomatically recognize the young Federal Republic of Germany. I would like to extend my thanks to Ms Cornelia Pieper, Minister of State in the Foreign Office, for representing the German Federal Government at todays event.
Jawaharlal Pandit Nehru, then Prime Minister, visited our city as early as 1956, at which time the University awarded him two honorary doctorates.
Today our two countries work together closely in the Security Council of the United Nations. In such important areas as climate change, renewable energy, sustainable urban development, river ecology, biotechnology, the food sector, and the aerospace industry, our close collaboration is an absolute necessity. The latter were also topics at India Week, which we already celebrated for the fourth time in Hamburg last October.
Our city is one of Germanys leading industrial centres and the headquarters of numerous major corporations. Hamburg has a good mixture of business sectors and a healthy economic basis. And the port well, now you have had an opportunity to get to know it personally on the occasion of its 823rd birthday.
India, that large, populous, multi-ethnic country, an important member of BRICS, has long since been anchored in our minds as an economic power, especially as the land of high tech. Everyone here knows Arcelor Mittal. And Suzlon Energy. After all, that company has helped to make it possible for Hamburg to earn its reputation as the capital of wind energy in Germany.
In the first ten years of this century, the foreign trade volume between Hamburg and India has more than tripled. There are thirty Indian companies in Hamburg, and 570 Hamburg companies maintain business relationships with India.
All of this makes it fitting for India to be the partner country this year at the Hamburg Hafengeburtstag, the Port Anniversary we have already mentioned. The fact that you have decided to festively open India Year in Germany today in Hamburg is a joy for us, and an honour.
Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
This coming October, I will have the pleasure of becoming the very first Hamburg mayor to personally visit India.
For today, Minister Sharma, let me thank you and the high-ranking Indian delegations for your visit to Hamburg. I wish you a pleasant stay, and to all of us: interesting and profound Days of India.
Many thanks.