By IANS,
Kolkata: The French government is looking into various areas to develop the tourism potential and revive the rich heritage of its former colony Chandannagar in West Bengal’s Hooghly district.
“West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi requested us to visit Chandannagar almost two years ago. We visited the place in April this year and identified four areas which can be developed with joint participation,” Ambassador of France Jerome Bonnafont told IANS on the sidelines of an event here Tuesday.
“These areas are maintaining the French heritage at Chandannagar, developing its tourism potential, teaching of French and finally to establish a cultural reunion between the two places,” Bonnafont said.
Chandannagar was an overseas territory of France in India for different periods stretching over 250 years since 1673. It finally became a part of the Indian union in 1952.
Bonnafont said the French Embassy in India would also organise a two-month long festival, Bonjour India – Festival of France in India.
At least 28 cultural events will be held in 18 different cities across the country between December 2009 and February 2010.
“The idea is to establish a new people’s relationship between France and India. All the events will highlight French culture and various socio-economic issues like ecological crisis, modern challenges and conflicts that we are facing in our country,” Bonnafont said.
He said France was also looking at Indian students who are interested in participating in research programmes there.
“We are aiming to treble the total figure of Indian students, which presently varies between 1,500 and 2,000 per annum, in next couple of years. We’ve also signed nine MoUs with two premier Indian institutions – Indian Institute of Management (IIM) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT),” Bonnafont added.
He said altogether 130 students from India’s IIMs and IITs had gone to France this year on bilateral student exchange programme.
“This figure is increasing by 25 percent every year,” he said.