By IANS
New Delhi : Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi inaugurated the celebrations in India to mark the arrival of the first batch of Indians in Trinidad & Tobago in 1845.
Speaking at a banquet here late Friday hosted by Trinidad & Tobago High Commissioner Pundit Maniedeo Persad, Ravi said he was looking forward to his visit to the Caribbean nation and participation in the Indian Arrival Day celebrations May 30.
"My trip to the Caribbean has been long overdue. My visit is aimed at strengthening ties between our two countries," said Ravi, who will be leaving for Port of Spain Monday night.
Indian Arrival Day is a national holiday in Trinidad & Tobago.
The first batch of workers, most of who hailed from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, went to work in the sugarcane plantations in that country.
Between 1845 and 1917, the year when the system of indentured labour was discontinued, 145,000 Indians left for the Caribbean country. Their descendants, now numbering around 520,000, constitute over 40 percent of that two-island nation's population.
A delegation from the Caribbean nation is currently on a tour of India for the Indian Arrival day celebrations. The group will visit Lucknow, Kanpur and Basti – places where people of Indian origin in Trinidad & Tobago trace their ancestry.
Persad said there had been a 300 percent increase in travel from India to Trinidad & Tobago in the last three years.
"Over the last three years, under my tenure, the mission (of T&T in Delhi) has established a theme 'Strengthening Relations: Trinidad & Tobago and India'," he said.
"A number of firsts have been recorded including the first ever carnival, first ever Indian Arrival Day celebrations and a host of activities and business promotions that have resulted in over 300 percent increase in travel from India to Trinidad & Tobago," the high commissioner said.
Inviting Indian entrepreneurs to invest in his nation, Persad pointed out to the Essar group's $1.2-billion investment in a steel plant in that country and NRI L.N. Mittal's first steel plant in the region.
"The Bank of Baroda has been given approval to begin business in Trinidad & Tobago and even as I speak, the first ever Bollywood film 'Dulha Mil Gaya' by Vivek Vaswani is being shot on location in Trinidad & Tobago," he noted.
Trinidad & Tobago has turned out to be the most prosperous nation in the Caribbean thanks to its oil and natural gas resources.
"With over 12 consecutive years of economic growth, and our 2006 rate exceeding 12.5 percent, a literacy rate of over 98 percent and a per capita income of over $15,000, Trinidad & Tobago has set itself the goal to achieve developed nation status by 2020 with citizens who can trace their ancestry literally all over the world," the envoy said.
Interactions between India and Trinidad & Tobago have been on the rise in recent years. In November 2006, Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat visited the Caribbean nation.
In February, a high-powered delegation including speaker of Trinidad & Tobago's House of Representatives Barendra Sinanan and President of Senate Linda Baboolal came to India on the invitation of the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.
This was followed by a visit in March by a 70-member business and cultural delegation to India led by the country's Minister for Trade and Industry Kenneth Valley.