By Aroonim Bhuyan, IANS
New Delhi : Outgoing French ambassador Dominique Girard believes that giving a boost to India-France commercial ties and introducing the youth of the two countries to each other’s culture were the biggest achievements of his nearly five-year tenure.
“I would say introducing the younger generation of India and France to each other’s culture has been my biggest achievement,” Girard, 61, told IANS in an interview.
“Everyone knows that both India and France have had cultural ties for a long time. My effort was to make the cultural ties between younger generations of the two countries more modern, including more subjects of interest.
“One of them has been photography,” said Girard, who released a coffee table book of photography on India Thursday, the last official function he hosted as ambassador to India.
He also said that promoting Indo-French relations at a time when India is becoming a global economic power has been another high point of his tenure.
“See, relations between countries are not built by embassies, but by people. But I could promote commercial ties between the two countries at a time when India is growing as a global economic power. That, I would say, has been an achievement,” he said.
The number of French companies operating in India doubled during Girard’s tenure. There are over 400 French companies in India now employing around 100,000 people.
“The hesitation of French companies till 2003-04 (to open shop in India) has given way to a formidable unanimity in their desire to establish long-term relations in this market,” the envoy has been quoted as saying in the latest issue of the embassy journal Rendezvous.
In his interview with IANS, he said among the fondest memories he would carry back from India was the Kolkata Book Fair of 2005 when France was the guest of honour.
“It was amazing… the level of interest book lovers there showed in French literature,” Girard said.
His only regret has been that he could not visit much of the rural areas of India.
“I wanted to make more visits to the rural areas of India, which, for me, are some of the most beautiful places in this great country,” rued the ambassador, whose last working day in India was Friday.
But returning to India again is very much on his agenda, he reiterated.
A career diplomat, Girard had earlier served as France’s ambassador to Indonesia and Australia. Prior to his posting in India, he was director of Asia-Oceania in France’s ministry of foreign affairs.
He assumed charge as France’s ambassador to India in December 2002.