Date: Nov 11, 2015
His Excellency Mr. Jorge Cardenas, the Ambassador of Bolivia to India called upon Prof. K.S. Srivastava, Vice-Chancellor of North-Eastern Hill University on November 19 and also interacted with the senior faculty, Deans of Schools, officials and students of the university. He was accompanied by Mr. Ike Sinha, Country Director, Unite 4 Good in India.
The Ambassador, who is also a professor, gave a brief account of his country and the similarities it shares with the North-Eastern states, namely abundant natural resources, cultural make-up and rich biodiversity hotspots. He spoke of how the indigenous population which accounts for 60% of the total population took control of their own resources to raise the country’s GDP while at the same time reducing the poverty from 42% to 18%. He emphasised on the need to shed the colonial mindset so that one can reach the level of the developed countries. The Bolivian Ambassador emphasised on the important role of education and the need to give back to the people the knowledge gained. “That is my message -- to interact and spread the word,” he concluded.
Expressing his gratitude to the Vice-Chancellor for organising the interaction on such short notice, Mr. Sinha recalled the contribution of late A.P.J. Kalam to the North East. “He understood the North East better than the North East itself,” he said adding that it is fitting that the Ambassador is the one to inaugurate the Dr. A.P.J. Kalam Memorial Herbal Garden near Pynursla on November 20. He requested the Vice-Chancellor through the establishment of NEHU to pay tribute to the memorial by ensuring that researchers from NEHU and Bolivia share information through exchange programmes and such kinds of interactions.
Prof. Srivastava in his welcome remarks hoped that the commonalities shared by both Bolivia and the North East would guide both parties to a better path.
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