Inauguration of statue of Indian celebrity Rabin Dranath Tagore in Bac Ninh

This afternoon, October 15, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar visited Bac Ninh and attended the inauguration ceremony of the statue of Rabin Dranath Tagore, donated by the Government of India, placed at the International Friendship Park in Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, Bac Ninh Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Anh Tuan and delegates attended the inauguration ceremony of the statue of Rabin Dranath Tagore at the International Friendship Park in Bac Ninh province. (Source: VNA)

On the afternoon of October 15, a delegation of the Ministry of External Affairs of India led by Minister S. Jaishankar visited Bac Ninh and attended the inauguration ceremony of the statue of Rabin Dranath Tagore, donated by the Government of the Republic of India, at the Bac Ninh International Friendship Park (Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province). The delegation was joined by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of India to Vietnam Sandeep Arya.

Rabindranath Tagore was born on May 7, 1861, in Kolkata, India. He is widely regarded as one of the world's few all-rounders. He was a playwright, poet, musician, novelist, educator, philosopher, and humanist. He wrote his first opera, Valmiki Pratibha, at the age of 20.

Tagore composed over 2,000 songs and created the Rabindra-sangeet, an important Bengali musical genre, which bears his name. His short stories and novels hold a prominent place in Bengali literature. And he is perhaps the only poet in the world to have composed national anthems for two countries: Amar Shonar Bangla for Bangladesh and Jana Gana Mana for India.

Tagore passed away in Calcutta on August 7, 1941, at the age of 80, leaving humanity a huge legacy of over a thousand poems, 42 plays, 12 novels, hundreds of short stories, memoirs, essays, and thousands of drawings and songs...

Tagore's writings and activities had a great impact on the cause of Indian national liberation. The leader of the Indian liberation movement, Mahatma Gandhi, called him both a "great teacher" and a "great sentinel" of India.

Speaking at the ceremony, Secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Anh Tuan emphasized: Vietnam and India have a traditional friendship originating from cultural and religious exchanges more than 2,000 years ago and built and nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The two countries have always supported and helped each other in the struggles against foreign invaders and for national independence.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar is on an official visit to Vietnam and co-chairing the 18th meeting of the Vietnam-India Joint Committee on Economic, Trade, Scientific and Technological Cooperation from October 15-17 at the invitation of Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son.

For over 50 years, India has been a reliable partner, regularly expressing its support for Vietnam’s development path and policies in many regional and international forums. Not only in the political and diplomatic fields, cooperation between the two countries has been reaping many important achievements in economics, defense and security, making the two countries become reliable, important partners, worthy of the title of “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”.

Bac Ninh is considered by investors and businesses as a safe, attractive and friendly investment destination. The convergence of multinational corporations has put Bac Ninh in the group of provinces and cities leading in attracting FDI capital in the country. To date, the whole province has attracted more than 2,000 FDI projects from 39 countries and territories with a total investment capital of about 24.6 billion USD, of which India alone has 4 projects in operation with a total investment capital of nearly 36 million USD.

Delegates planted souvenir trees at the International Friendship Park of Bac Ninh province. (Source: VNA)

Secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee Nguyen Anh Tuan said that in order to recognize the contributions, honor and strengthen the cooperative and friendly relations between Bac Ninh and countries with FDI capital in the area, creating conditions for foreigners to have a place for cultural and sports activities, and to organize international events, the province has built the International Friendship Park.

The Secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee emphasized that the statue of the Great Poet Tagore is also the first symbol placed at the International Friendship Park. This event contains the precious sentiments that the Government and people of India have for Bac Ninh. The Secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee believes that the visit to Vietnam, including Bac Ninh province by Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, will contribute to further promoting the traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries in general, Bac Ninh and Indian partners in particular, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment, culture and people-to-people diplomacy.

Indian Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar expressed his pride and gratitude to the government and people of Bac Ninh province for their sentiments in inaugurating the statue of the great poet Tagore - one of the cultural celebrities of India. In particular, the Minister expressed his surprise at the admiration of the Vietnamese people for the poet Tagore; and was delighted that his works are known to many Vietnamese people and included in Vietnamese textbooks.

Minister S. Jaishankar emphasized: Bac Ninh has the place name Luy Lau, where Indian monks introduced and spread Buddhism early, and is a famous Buddhist education center in Vietnam. This is a special spiritual and cultural connection between Bac Ninh and India. Up to now, Bac Ninh is an industrial development center with many international corporations investing. Minister S. Jaishankar hopes that Bac Ninh will continue to develop and connect with many other international partners.

After the program, the delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of India and leaders of Bac Ninh province planted a souvenir tree at the International Friendship Park and visited Phat Tich Pagoda (Tien Du district).

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/khanh-thanh-tuong-danh-nhan-an-do-rabin-dranath-tagore-tai-bac-ninh-246233.html