Indian embassy celebrates Republic Day

AMMAN — India and Jordan enjoy “warm and friendly relations”, said India's Ambassador to Jordan Shubhdarshini Tripathi in an interview on the occasion of India's 69th Republic Day.

India on Friday celebrates its 69th Republic Day which commemorates the day on which the country’s constitution has come into force.

"In India, we believe in ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, in Sanskrit; meaning the entire world is a family and therefore, we share with the family whatever we have," she said on Tuesday.

 “I take this opportunity to thank all Jordanian establishments for all their support to us in our endeavour to enhance our bilateral ties.”

“There has been bilateral exchange of visits between our two leaders at the highest levels. The year 2017 saw the visits to India by Royal Court Chief Fayez Tarawneh, Minister of Industry and Trade, Yarub Qudah, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Ayman Al Safadi. In addition, there was a trade and business delegation from the Jordan Investment Commission that visited India,” Tripathi noted.

“We need to diversify our trade and have more business to business interaction so that we could achieve the trade target of $5 billion by 2025 from the current $1.35 billion registered in 2015-16.”

Besides having a large volume of investments in Jordan, India was the Kingdom’s 4th largest trading partner in 2014, according to the ambassador.

“We are constantly identifying new areas of cooperation in the commercial sector.”

In order to expand, develop and diversify trade relations and promote economic, trade and investment cooperation, the two countries signed an economic and trade cooperation agreement in July 2017, she added.

India imports fertilisers, phosphate, phosphoric acid from Jordan while its exports to the Kingdom include electrical machinery, cereals, frozen meat, organic and inorganic chemicals, animal fodder, engineering and automotive parts, according to the ambassador.

Republic Day

India is commemorating on Friday the day on which the country’s constitution has been enacted.

The constitution of India has "clearly articulated" the social and economic goals and specified the actions needed to achieve the promised social goals, the ambassador said.

With the drawing up of the Constitution, in the aftermath of the British rule, citizens have become assured that the executive legislative and judiciary powers will uphold their rights and remove inequities, she told The Jordan Times.

At the time of its commencement, it was the world's lengthiest written constitution with 395 articles in 22 parts and eight schedules, she indicated.

There have been 101 amendments to the constitution of India since it has come into force, she added.

“Amendments have been made as the situation evolves, and adapting to the new realities,” said the ambassador.

Now, the constitution has 448 articles in 25 parts, 12 schedules, five appendices and 101 amendments.

In its preamble, the philosophy of the Constitution is included and it is stated that India is “a sovereign, secular, socialist democratic republic”, she noted.

Foreign policy

For India, its foreign and economic policy objectives are integrated and cannot be addressed divorced from each other, Tripathi indicated.

The creation of an external environment that is conducive to all-inclusive growth in the country is one of the components of India’s foreign policy, she added.

Moreover, India adheres to its policy of non-interference into internal affairs of other countries and advocates the policy of constructive engagement, the ambassador said.

Celebrations

Back home, India, also known as Bharat, has collectively invited all leaders of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the group of 10 countries in that region, to be the chief guests at its 2018 Republic Day celebrations. “This is the first time that more than one head of state or government will be part of the Republic Day celebrations,” the ambassador indicated.

Marking the occasion in Jordan, the Indian community and friends of India will come together on Friday for a flag-hoisting ceremony at the embassy’s new premises in Abdoun.

On Thursday evening, a leading troupe from the state of Rajasthan gave a performance, presenting a variety of traditional Indian folk dances at the Royal Cultural Centre in Amman. Minister of Culture Nabih Shuqum attended the performance.

On Sunday, the troupe is going to perform at Irbid Cultural Centre while the eastern governorate of Zarqa will host a performance of the Rajasthani troupe at King Abdullah II Cultural Centre on Monday, according to the Indian embassy.