“Communication is the key for a successful association”; says Amb Bambawale welcoming Indian Youth Delegation to China
Beijing, July 6: Exchange of ideas leads to welcoming new developments and initiative. Encompassing this mindset, 200 members of Indian Youth Delegation is currently visiting China as part of the efforts of the two governments to provide opportunities to their youth to mutually understand each other better.
The delegation comprising students, researchers, youth leaders and young achievers are visiting various Chinese cities including Beijing, Wuhan, Kunming, Shanghai, and Guangzhou from July 3 to 10. India and China have implemented the annual India-China Youth Exchange programme since 2006-07. Large delegations of Chinese youth have also been visiting India under the programme.
Addressing a welcoming speech to the Indian delegates, Ambassador Bambawale emphasized strengthening the people to people exchange between the two countries. Both the countries have their own set of thought process and ideas which differ in many contexts and when two unlike minds merge, there is a way for a greater positive prospect to emerge. Communication is the key to know and understand each other. The intention of the two governments is letting the young people in India and China not only get an opportunity to see the other’s country but more importantly have the chance to interact with young people from the other side.
He urged the youth to interact with their Chinese counterpart as it is the only way they can understand their thinking process. Both the governments in India and China are working towards the focus on ways to enhance tourism between India and China so that greater numbers of our people travel to the other country.
Apart from this the Ambassador also played a flashback effect of how the two countries share the bouts of being the oldest civilizations. There were also huge exchanges of goods, commodities, and services. Hailing the journey of ancient monks Fa Xian and Xuan Zang, he elaborated that when Xuan Zang visited India, he was impressed by the manuscripts of Pali and Sanskrit and he learned it to later transform the manuscripts to Chinese. Similarly, when Indian monks visited China they propagated their religion.
Moreover, he elaborated by saying that in recent years, India and China have interacted with each other as modern countries exchanging goods, services, technology, and investments. Conversely, Indian Bollywood films such as Dangal, Secret Superstar, and Hindi Medium have become very popular in China exhibiting the fact that well-made films with a serious theme catch the attention of Chinese public.
On business lines, there are several Indian companies which have invested in China including the houses of Tata and Birla. As you may know, India-China bilateral trade reached a new peak of US$ 84.4 billion in calendar 2017. We are expecting it to cross the US$100 billion thresholds in the next 2 years.
On political lines, Prime Minister Modi visited China twice this year, first for the Informal Summit at Wuhan and more recently for the SCO Summit at Qingdao. He has had excellent discussions with President Xi Jinping which have paved the way for strategic interaction and understanding between our countries. Also, the External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman visited India for bilateral talks during the SCO summit. The relations between India and China are therefore seen as flourishing.