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Dear Member, dear Reader
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May you go higher & higher, to more & more light and never to darkness
Makar Sankranti, a traditional Indian festival celebrated on 14th January, is most spectacular in the walled city of Ahmedabad where children climb on the roofs of their houses and fly kites that try to reach up to their glorious Sun God. The following six month period is considered very auspicious for a good move (san-kranti).
We too tried to fly a kite when we attempted to kick start Euro-Indian city-to-city co-operation through a EuroIndia City Forum that we organized in February 2007, followed by a mission of Indian cities to Europe in November that paved the way for a second Forum in April 2008.
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Our kite flew high, thanks partly to the city of Ahmedabad! Indeed by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with La Rochelle at the last Forum, Ahmedabad vindicated our endeavours to instill European Excellence in Indian cities through co-operation.
Our kite flew high too thanks to Halle, Valladolid and La Rochelle taking part in a newly added Tourism Promotional event to the Forum in Delhi.
We now feel emboldened to fly even higher with a new K.I.T.E- K. for Knowledge exchanges, I. for inward Investment, T. for Tourism, E. for urban Excellence.
Our new 3-year strategy is indeed about scaling up our Urban Development and Tourism services and adding Knowledge and Investment to our services to Cities.
Meeting such a tall challenge will hinge on the enduring support of strong like-minded partners, such as the Indian Government, the Confederation of Indian Industry, States, Cities and companies, with matching European support.
Our members stewarded their own cities of residence, Halle, La Rochelle, Valladolid, to a successful participation at the last Forum. As more such European stars join to circle a blazing Indian sun, our Euro-Indian endeavours will hopefully soon look like our Centre's own emblem!
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Yours sincerely,
Michel Sabatier
Secretary-General
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Vantage Point |
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Swiss companies in India
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Politics and Economy |
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Till the year 2000, around 40 per cent of India's 825,000 habitations lacked all-weather roads. Nearly 74 % of the rural population was not fully integrated into the national economy.
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Policy & Regulations |
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Chidambaram forced to rollback controversial tax clause. Every budget of Palanniappan Chidambaram, India's dapper Minister for Finance, has a controversial tax proposal that tends to ruin the overall impact.
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Foreign Investment |
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FDI touches $ 25 billion
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India has been growing in leaps and bounds.
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Infrastructure and Industry Monitor |
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Govt announces greenfield airport policy
The union government has announced a new policy for setting up new airports.
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Article Alert |
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A selection of the best articles in Indian media on city issues and the JNNURM in particular.
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Memberspeak |
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Gurcharan Das
On a recent lecture tour of the Far East I was repeatedly asked a fascinating question.
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What's New |
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This year we are also celebrating the tenth anniversary of the European Monetary Union, one of the EU's strongest symbols.
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The EuroIndia Sphere |
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