About 120 Indian envoys across the globe have gathered for a brainstorming session in New Delhi for the annual meeting of the Heads of Missions (HoM) from May 27-31. During the five-day meeting they will hold a review of the last year and work out fresh strategy for the coming days.
With diplomacy now dovetailed with Government's development plans, sources said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will work out fresh plans on how diplomats can get more international support for country’s flagship programmes like Swachchh Bharat Abhiyan, Smart Cities, Digital India, Namami Gange, Make in India etc. Several Government-to-Government and private-public-partnership has taken place in last one year but the aim is to increase the number of foreign participation, funds and work out strategies for India’s energy and defence needs.
During the meeting, the envoys will discuss issues pertaining to Indian diaspora, relations with neighbouring countries and forging strategic partnership. With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s focus on getting more foreign investment to India, the embassies have been focusing on encouraging international community to make use of opportunities in India.
Already due to efforts, the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flow to India is up by 40 per cent while several important strategic tie-ups with foreign firms took place in last two years. Countries like Israel, France, Germany, United States and Russia are active partners in India’s various programmes. The engagement with the Islamic and African countries too has deepened.
“The idea is to benefit from the combine pool of diplomats and exchange of views of several matters,” said an official. Indian missions also made the India-initiated International Yoga Day a major success last year and plans are on to make it a grand event this year too.