By Paras Ramoutar, IANS,
Port-of-Spain : Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will be the chief guest at India’s annual diaspora conclave early next year that will see the participation of over 1,500 delegates from across the globe.
The 10th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) will be held in Jaipur Jan 7-9, 2012.
During an address at an annual exposition, called Diwali Nagar, in this Trinidad and Tobago capital, Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra said that it was “a great honour to host Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, more so as she is the only woman leader in the Indian diaspora”.
The theme of PBD 2012 will be “Global Indian-Inclusive Growth”. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to inaugurate the event Jan 8, 2012 and Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will deliver the valedictory address and confer Pravasi Bhartiya Samman awards Jan 9.
The Indian diaspora is the second largest expatriate community in the world after the Chinese.
Mishra said Trinidad and Tobago has established an international reputation in the celebration of Diwali and many other countries having Indian diaspora have emulated it.
He said that Indian culture was strong here.
Of this Caribbean island nation’s population of 1.3 million, around 44 percent are of Indian descent. Their forefathers were brought here between 1845 and 1917 to work on sugar plantations.
(Paras Ramoutar can be contacted at [email protected])