From taking care of minute details such as etching the names of the visiting heads of States on their pillow covers, to providing shawls to beat the cold at Rajpath at the Republic Day Parade, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj-led team went for meticulous planning and execution to make the Commemorative ASEAN Summit a memorable event.
The efforts and hospitality were much appreciated by the visiting leaders and their spouses. According to MEA Secretary-East Preeti Saran, all the ten Heads of States conveyed their deep appreciation for the Summit and the Parade while saying that the event would remain memorable.
“The work started two months ago with meetings between protocol, security and the diplomatic teams from various embassies whose leaders were coming,” said Sanjay Verma, Chief of Protocol, MEA. In the last eight days the work intensified and final touches were given to all plans. He added that even smaller details like checking if any leader or his spouse was allergic to any particular food or fabric too was taken into consideration. Besides, the dinner menu was setup keeping in mind food habits and practices.
The MEA officials underlined the proactive role played by Swaraj who herself remained clued in to each and every work. “For instance, the EAM decided to provide shawls for the dignitaries and their spouses while they were seated at Rajpath since it was very cold out there,” Verma said.
Swaraj also suggested having flags of each country pasted on the hotel room keys of the delegates and leaders to make them feel special. On Friday, the dignitaries were also given red bandhej scarves to add special colour to the Republic Day celebrations.The big box of gift itself was a unique collection of ‘carefully’ curated items which included various works handicrafts and a Pashmina shawl from Kashmir.
Swaraj was also present in almost all the preparatory meetings including on security. There were several rounds of inter-ministerial meetings held along with Delhi government to ensure the mega event was conducted smoothly. "We were like ducks. Swimming furiously but maintaining calm," Saran said.
On Friday, at Rajpath the ten leaders arrived within the gap of nine minutes each. Verma said that they were all first brought to Rashtrapati Bhawan from their respective hotels to ensure there is no delay in their arrival for the Parade. The delegations were conveyed in advance that the Parade has never ever started late, hence, issues related to timing were to be adhered strictly.
The ten leaders who attended the ASEAN Summit were Malaysian PM Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, President of Philippines Rodrigo Duterte, PM of Singapore lee Hsien loong, PM of Thailand Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha, Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei, Vietnamese PM Nguyen Phuc, lao PDRs PM Thongloun Sisoulith, State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, PM of Cambodia Hun Sen and Indonesian President Joko Widodo.