Her Excellency Ambika Soni, Minister of Tourism and Culture, India;
His Excellency Dr S Jaishankar, Indian High Commissioner to Singapore;
Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, President, Confederation of Indian Industry;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
Good afternoon.
It gives me great pleasure to join you at this Incredible India @ 60 Cultural Festival. I would like to extend my heartiest congratulations to the Government and people of India on the 60 th anniversary of your independence. I also wish to thank the Confederation of Indian Industry for organising this series of celebratory events in Singapore. The choice of Singapore to stage Incredible India @ 60 speaks highly of the warm and friendly ties between India and Singapore. Over the next three days, Singaporeans and international visitors to Orchard Road will have an incredible opportunity to experience snapshots of India’s rich and diverse cultural creativity.
2 India is a country with an ancient and deep rooted culture which stretches back to almost 5,000 years. This ancient heritage forms the bedrock and underpins the country’s arts and culture. It has enabled India, over the centuries, to spread it strong influence well beyond its shores to Asia and Southeast Asia. Today, India’s influence and reach is of course well beyond the region and truly international. This Cultural Festival is a good opportunity to showcase India’s cultural heritage and for Singaporeans to better understand and appreciate the richness and diversity of India’s arts and culture. This is particularly relevant to us as many Singaporeans can trace their ancestry back to their Indian roots.
3 Singapore and India enjoy close and fruitful cultural ties. We have regular exchanges at both the government and community levels. We are particularly appreciative and grateful for India’s support for such cultural exchanges which are important for our thriving arts and culture scene. For instance, The Asian Civilisation Museum’s recent blockbuster exhibition “The Nalanda Trail: Buddhism in India, China and Southeast Asia” was made possible with rare and significant loans from the Indian Government. I am particularly grateful to Minister Ambika Soni for her support for this project.
4 Another recent example is the performances by acclaimed Indian flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and artists from one of India’s oldest dance school – the Kalakshetra Dance Academy. They performed two weeks ago at the Indian Classical Music and Dance 2008 organised by the Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society. I attended that performance and enjoyed every minute of the delicate, expressive and disciplined dance.
5 Our strong relations also meant that there is increasing participation by Singapore artists in India’s cultural events. For instance, Singapore Cultural Medallion recipient Ms Han Sai Por, and curator Ms Tay Swee Lin, presented their works in the 11 th Indian Triennale in New Delhi in 2005. I visited that Triennale and experienced the amazing and inspiring richness of India’s contemporary arts as well as their rich store of historical artworks. Singapore’s Bhaskar's Dance Academy had also toured India, performing in several cities in India, and regaling the audiences with Bhaskar’s unique infusion of the traditional Kathakali dance form with a distinctively Singaporean flavour.
6 In closing, I wish to emphasise that India and Singapore’s cultural exchanges and engagements are invaluable links which can bring us closer together. Such exchanges will colour and diversity to our arts and cultural scene and enhance mutual understanding and appreciation of each other’s heritage. They add to the strength of our overall relations in diplomacy, economics, trade and investments. We are deeply appreciative of India’s continuing support for arts and cultural exchanges with Singapore. We look forward to building closer cultural ties and we are very happy that you have chosen to hold the Incredible India @ 60 in Singapore. I extend my best wishes for a successful event.
Thank you.
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