Veljko Kajtazi, MP paid a nine-day official visit to the Republic of India as the Chair of the Croatia – India Interparliamentary Friendship Group.
As part of a visit that was organized with the support of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Kajtazi visited the cities of New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai and held a series of meetings on the cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and the Republic of India. Specifically, a series of meetings was focused on the relations of the Roma community throughout the world with respect to the Republic of India regarding a recent debate that opened the issue of recognition of the Roma people as an Indian Diaspora or People of Indian origin.
In New Delhi he visited the Parliament of India and was hosted at a special dinner held on the occasion of his visit by the President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, MP. Numerous representatives of the academic community, non-governmental and governmental organizations gathered at this dinner as well as prominent individuals engaged in the research on the Roma community.
At the very beginning of his official visit, the Croatian MP laid flowers and paid his respects to the national hero Mahatma Gandhi at the Raj Ghat Memorial, and the visit continued by meeting the Minister of State for External Affairs of the Republic of India, M.J. Akbar at the Ministry of External Affairs. The meeting was intended to exchange information on the above mentioned processes. The meeting was also attended by the Ambassador of the Republic of Croatia to the Republic of India, H. E. Petar Ljubičić.
Veljko Kajtazi, MP took advantage of this visit to connect and socialize with the members of ARSP (Antar Rashtriya Sahyog Parishad), a prime organization connecting Indian Diaspora to India. At the presentation held in the ARSP premises, the MP presented the problems faced by the Roma community and expressed hope for the process of recognizing the Roma people as Indian Diaspora. ARSP representatives also announced the organization of a conference on the occasion of marking the 1,000-year migration of the Roma people from India that should be held in New Delhi in November this year.
The presentation of the Republic of Croatia and the position of national minorities in the Republic of Croatia proved also interested to the students of the Centre for European Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi who showed special interest in the rapid transition and recovery of our country after the 1990s.
In Bangalore, known as the headquarters of a well-known Indian IT industry, Veljko Kajtazi held a meeting with Professor S. Sadagopan, Director of IIIT-Bangalore and his associates. IIIT-B, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore focuses on education, research, entrepreneurship and innovation and is the largest institution of this type in the Republic of India.
A visit to the Infosys Campus in Bengaluru and a meeting with Binod Hampapur, Executive Vice President at Infosys Limited confirmed the good relationship between the educational institute and labour market needs, where the average employee age is 27. Infosys is India’s largest IT company cooperating with the largest names in the IT industry, such as Apple and Microsoft, and last year they opened their first office and delivery centre in Karlovac employing more than 100 engineers.
In Mumbai, the MP held a meeting with the Governing Board of the Council of EU Chambers of Commerce in India and had an interesting talk with Neelam Deo who served as India’s Ambassador and today is a Director of Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations, a foreign policy think-tank.
