PIO Conference: A ceremony which gave aroma of our nation’s soil to the NRIs

New Delhi, January 9: To make relations with the Persons of Indian Origin (PIO) more concrete, first time ever a parliamentary conference was held at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, NCR. Every year, January 9 is celebrated as Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (PBD), an annual celebratory day that marks the contribution of overseas persons with Indian origin (PIO) towards their homeland.

“Sushma Swaraj ji not only takes care of Indian citizens but also the NRIs. Under her, our Ministry of External Affairs keeps an eye on problems of NRIs 24*7 with a real-time monitoring system,” said PM Modi after inaugurating the conference.

 

“Today, India has become a country having a global agenda. The credit of taking India to this level goes to our Prime Minister Narendra Modi. When PM goes to G-20, he brings black money to centre stage & takes brave decisions like demonetization and GST back home and shows the world the fight India is fighting against black money” says Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj while delivering opening remarks at the valedictory session of the first PIO Parliamentarian Conference.

 

As many as 124 members of parliament (MPs) and 17 mayors participated from 23 countries including UK, USA, South Africa, Canada, Fiji, Kenya, Mauritius, New Zealand, Sri Lanka among others. The biggest delegations were from Guyana with 20 members of parliament and three mayors. The US delegation represented by only two mayors as the Senate is in session.

 

Vice President Naidu spoke on the occasion “"We are proud of our rich Diaspora, spread over many countries and across continents. The Indian Diaspora has contributed enormously to strengthening India’s cultural, literary, political and economic bonds across the world. India sees in you an important bridge with countries where you are living. You are also instrumental in building the people to people ties. The biggest challenge to world order is terrorism; there cannot be progress without peace. Terror is against humanity; terror has no religion; world must seriously come together to tackle terrorism.”