By Surender Bhutani, EuAsiaNews
Vilinius : Lithuania has agreed to open its diplomatic mission in New Delhi in September and has designated A.A. Dambrauskas as the first consul-general to India.
Lithuania will be the first Baltic state to open its embassy in India .
Speaking to this correspondent, Dambrauskas said,”the profile of India has increased manifold in the past four years. Many Indian companies have set up their production units in our country once we joined the European Union in May 2004. ”
The former Indian ambassador to Poland and Lithuania , Anil Wadhwa, had actively campagined to bring India on the radar screen of Lithuanian political elite.
During his term of office, Anand Sharma, Minister for State in External Affairs visited Lithuania and before that Rao Inder Jit Singh had paid a visit as the Minister for State in External Affairs in 2005.
Many Indian cultural groups have performed in several towns in Lithuania in the past four years. Recently, Uma Sharam a reknowned Kathak dancer gave her performances in Lithuania.
Moreover, there have been exchanges of many trade delegations between India and Lithuania .
A chair of Indology was also established in one of the main universities of Lithuania, apart from promoting Hindi Studies in Vilinus university in 2006.
India too has appointed an Honrary Consul-General in Vilinus. A retired Indian air force officer, Rajiner Choudhary, who is famous for running Indian restaurants in the Baltic region, was selected for the post last year.
Speaking to this correspondent, Choudhary said, “there is tremendous goodwill for India in this part of the world. Now many people are visiting India for business purposes. With little more efforts the trade between the two countries can flourish.”
However, there are no visa facilities for Lithuanians in Vilinus and they have to travel to Warsaw to obtain their visa for India. This is indeed a big problem which needs to be resolved.