prijava
SARAJEVO, October 21 (FENA) - Bosnia and Herzegovina is a beautiful country, and Bosnians and Herzegovians are wonderful people. No matter the fact that I leaving, I will be returning to Sarajevo, BiH, because I have drunk waters from Baščaršija', said the non-resident ambassador of India based in Budapest, Rahul Chhabra, in his farewell interview with FENA.
Interviewer: Kanita Aliagić
He is taking over the position of India's Ambassador to Kenya, but he is pleased with what he has done in his mandate both for BiH and India, especially in the field of cultural cooperation.
"I am very satisfied because we managed to bring Indian culture closer to the people of BiH. In that sense, I decided to dedicate my work, in addition to Sarajevo, Mostar, and Banja Luka, to small towns: Široki Brijeg, Foča, Milići, Zavidovići, Bijeljina, Tuzla," said Ambassador Chhabra.
Events were held in these towns in which Indian culture was promoted, yoga, and I am especially proud of the newly erected statue in Milići, which, besides European and Chinese, the Russian renowned individuals, now has an Indian counterpart, the founder of the modern state of India, Mahatma Gandhi and writer and Nobel Prize-winner Rabindranath Tagore.
"This is also significant because this year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi," he said, adding that in addition to these activities, India was guest country at the Sarajevo Winter Festival, and during this week, the delegation from India will also visit the Sarajevo Tourism Fair.
He also reminded that more than 45 business people from India came to take part in the Sarajevo Business Forum and thus economic cooperation between BiH and India has been brought to a higher level. In order to facilitate and improve this cooperation, we have introduced an electronic, online, visa-issuing system.
"University cooperation, especially between the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sarajevo and the Chennai Medical School, has been established, for the purpose of encouraging students from BiH to come to Chennai and we also want to open a medical college in Sarajevo," said Ambassador Chhabra.
Although we announced the opening of the information technologies center in Sarajevo and Banja Luka, this project has not been realized, but we are still working on it and awaiting the reply from the BiH authorities.
"We regularly participate in all events in BiH and we strive to better inform BiH citizens of all that India offers," he said.
Ambassador Chhabra announced that future Ambassador of India Kumar Tukhin will arrive in Budapest in mid-November and soon afterward he will visit BiH.
"I will recommend to Ambassador Tukhin to continue with the initiated projects. It would be important for him to focus on economic cooperation and more on culture, because they are the two most important pillars of cooperation between BiH and India that help build better relations between the countries," said the outgoing non-resident Ambassador of India based in Budapest, Rahul Chhabra in a farewell interview with FENA.
(FENA) S. R.
