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The Mayor of Valladolid, Mr. Francisco Javier León de la Riva, has recently returned to Valladolid after visiting India under the "Distinguished Visitor" programme of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations. During his ten-day-long trip he visited New Delhi, Varanasi, Kochin, Chennai and the city of Ahmedabad, meeting also with local authorities and representatives, including the Mayors of Delhi, Varanasi and Ahmedabad.
According to the "Distinguished Visitor" programme, the ICCR "plays host to eminent scholars and distinguished personalities from all over the world to facilitate their interaction with institutions and audiences in India", inviting people whose involvement with India has been made evident throughout the years. And Valladolid undoubtedly has a special relationship with this Asian country.
First of all because, together with London and Berlin, it is one of the three European cities to host an official Indian cultural centre, a House of India -Casa de la India- recognised and supported by the Government of India, along with the City Council and the University of Valladolid. This institution, set up in 2003 as a cultural foundation to promote Indo-Spanish relations, plays a key role in Valladolid, actively bringing through its cultural, academic and economic programmes the Indian taste, aroma, and colour to a medium-sized Spanish city, located in the north-west of the Iberian peninsula.
Secondly, we must mention the solid relationship between Valladolid and the EuroIndia Centre, which has resulted in Valladolid becoming the first European member of the network created by the international Institution.
And last, but not least, on October 4, a delegation from the city of Ahmedabad led by Mayor Kanaji Thakore travelled to Valladolid to sign a Friendship Agreement, as above mentioned, for the exchange of know-how in the areas of heritage conservation and the promotion of tourism.
At the Goa EuroIndia Forum 2008, and more specifically in the session which took place on April 5 under the title 'City-to-City Cooperation' Mr. León de la Riva talked about the importance of bilateral cooperation between cities as a necessary element for local development. In his own words, and from the point of view of the leader of a municipality, "these relationships help us learn from the success stories and difficulties of other cities; they give us a contextualised vision of our towns, from a national, continental or even global point of view, and they therefore add to what politics can offer citizens".
The Friendship Agreement with Ahmedabad is the first result of the expressed intentions of the Mayor of Valladolid, with a city-to-city relationship which was strengthened during his current trip to India. Mr. León de la Riva specifically asked to include Ahmedabad in the agenda of journey trip and this visit to proved particularly fruitful and emotional. In Ahmedabad León de la Riva had the chance to visit the Gandhi Ashram, where, apart from being shown how to spin cotton, he was introduced to the history of India's non-violent freedom struggle. Also the Mayor of Valladolid was able to get a first-hand impression of the conservation programmes of the city's heritage sites, an area of cooperation in which both cities plan to exchange know-how and expertise. He was surely a "distinguished visitor" there for the importance that this relationship will have for the future development of these two Spanish and Indian cities.
Catherine L. Park
Relaciones Internacionales
rea de Presidencia
Ayuntamiento de Valladolid
Tel: +34 983 426203
Fax: +34 983 426129
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