It is a profound honour
and a privilege to be received by Your Majesty this morning. May I extend to you on behalf of the
President of the Republic of India our warm greetings and good wishes for your
continued good health and for the prosperity and well-being of the friendly
people of Lesotho, in also expressing the sentiment that relations between our
two countries and people will continue to grow to mutual benefit and well-being
in the years to come.
2. India
and Lesotho, though separated by an Ocean, maintain friendly and fraternal
relations that are characterized by a shared appreciation of common values and
principles. Over the years, this
relationship has been strengthened and deepened by the interaction between our
peoples. Each year, many young students
from Lesotho travel to India in the pursuit of their academic interests. During their stay, they have the unique opportunity
to ‘experience’ India. When they return,
these young people bring with them not only the knowledge they have gained but
also an understanding of the values, customs and traditions of the people of
India. This is an invaluable asset to
any country and its people who can benefit from an interaction and exchange of
values and beliefs, talents and strengths in a partnership where all win.
3. The
strong bonds of friendship between India and Lesotho have produced fruitful
results over the years. Our two
countries continue to enjoy close cooperation in various sectors such as
agriculture and food security, institution and capacity building, science and
technology, trade and investment and education and skills. An important mechanism in taking the
bilateral partnership further forward is the Joint Bilateral Commission of
Cooperation. We are indeed delighted
that the Third Meeting is scheduled in New Delhi on 1 December 2017. We greatly look forward to the pleasure of
receiving a delegation from Lesotho in our capital city, this regular
interaction bodes well for an upscaled India-Lesotho partnership in coming
years.
4. The
Government and people of India have shown their care and concern for the
wellbeing of the people of Lesotho which is reflected in the many ways the
Government of India assists the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho to educate
and train its citizens through capacity building programmes and to apply these
skills to the unique challenges that confront them. The recent gift of 500 metric tons of rice,
which consignment will be formally handed over today in Lesotho, is a
manifestation of the concern of the people of India for the people of Lesotho
and their desire to help their brothers and sisters mitigate the devastating
effects of food shortages caused by famine and other acts of nature.
5. Your
Majesty, through the Pan African
e-network Programme, the Government of India seeks to diminish or remove
the distance that physically separates our peoples so that medical students,
health care providers and patients, teachers and students and others can avail
themselves of educational and health care facilities provided by experts in
India that would otherwise not be available to the common man who is often unable
to overcome the distance barrier that physically separates our two
peoples. Your Majesty would be pleased
to know that in response to a request from African leaders at the Third
India-Africa Forum Summit held in New Delhi in October 2015, the Government of
India intends to expand the e-network Programme to make it accessible by more
people to satisfy their diverse needs.
6. Science
and Technology is the basis of social progress, indeed a vital tool to
modernize a society and its people.
India is a frontrunner in using and applying IT to revolutionize society
by applying Information Technology to provide better and more efficient service
delivery to the people. The new India-Lesotho
Centre for Advanced Education in Information Technology at the Lerotholi
Polytechnic donated by the Government of India and which I will inaugurate
later today would help students from Lesotho to pursue their studies in Information
Technology. I am confident that the
students trained at the IT Centre would purposefully apply these skills back
home to address challenges in diverse areas such as education, healthcare, banking,
service delivery and manufacturing. Another
project that is ongoing would, on completion, provide Vocational Training Centres
in Lesotho with modern equipment, thus enabling youth and women to be
self-sufficient as well as to employ or train others.
7. Your
Majesty, it is very encouraging to observe that India-Lesotho bilateral trade
has grown in the past year. It is
especially heartening to note that most of the increase in bilateral trade is
from growth in Lesotho’s exports to India.
This augurs well for our future.
Our two countries can work together to further increase trade by
widening our trade basket to include non-traditional items and by adding value
to traditional items of export and import.
Over the years India has supported Lesotho’s healthcare programme by
providing low-cost anti-retro viral (ARV) drugs that have a two-fold benefit:
that of providing affordable medicines for those who need them and keeping the
Government expenditure on healthcare as low as possible. There are yet other areas to be explored in
providing low-cost medicines, including ARVs.
8. The
Kingdom of Lesotho is home to a small but significant community of expatriates
from India. We are deeply appreciative
of the warm welcome that has been extended to them by Lesotho, as these
‘bridges’ play a significant role in strengthening the people-to-people
relations and warm friendship between our two countries.
9. Your
Majesty, Lesotho has consistently supported India in various multilateral fora,
including recent invaluable support at the United Nations. India deeply
appreciates this show of solidarity and assures Lesotho of its reciprocal
support, as and when the situation arises.
We need, more than ever, an effective multilateralism to combat the many
global threats and challenges that confront the world today.
10. India
and Africa share a common past and importantly shared aspirations for the
future as we move together forward to promote a sustainable future for our
people. We assure Your Majesty and the
Government and friendly people of Lesotho of India’s steadfast friendship and
cooperation as we traverse the road to dignity for all and where above all “no
one is left behind”.
Khotso, Pula, Nala.
