Scotland’s contingent for New Delhi Commonwealth Games gets support from home
Scotland’s contingent for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010 is bound to get some moral support as Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond has decided to travel to New Delhi this week to support the squad. According to reports, besides encouraging the
Scottish contingent, Alex Salmond would also announce the formation of closer ties with India on the business and tourism fronts. The minister would remain in Delhi till Thursday, the 14th of October when the closing ceremony has been planned to
be organized. Salmond is also expected to attend the ceremony when the traditional torch representing the Games would be handed over to Glasgow, the next host city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
While addressing the media and revealing about the plans to send its first minister, the Scottish government has said that during his visit, Mr. Salmond would also visit the athlete’s village to meet the team members that are representing Scotland in the
event. Besides meeting the contingent and participating in the closing ceremony, the minister would also announce India’s investment in Scotland, the impact on the job market back home and the schedule of the high level ministerial meetings with the Indian
government.
While giving his remarks regarding his upcoming visit to India, the senior minister said that Scottish athletes were performing fantastically well in the Delhi Commonwealth Games. He assured his contingent that the entire country was behind Scottish athletes
to support them. Mr. Salmond further said that he was feeling proud on attending the Commonwealth Games and to show his support for the achievements of his players.
Mr. Salmond further said that he would like to wish the Scottish squad the best of luck at the ending ceremony which was going to be held on Thursday. Praising the performance and presence of the Scottish team in the Games, the minister said that he believed
that athletes from Scotland would prove to be great ambassadors of Scotland on Indian soil as Scotland would be taking on the status of the host nation for the coming event. The minister told the media that his country was already enjoying strong ties with
the current hosts of the Games.
While talking about the economic prospective of the visit and while praising the contribution of the Indians living in Scotland, Alex Salmond claimed that they had one of the most thriving Asian communities in the world that had impacted on Scotland’s food,
arts, religious tolerance, business and diversification in a positive way. He said that the contribution of 35,000 Indians working in Scotland was marvellous for his country. Salmond further added that being an emerging economic power, India had assumed the
status of essential partners for Scotland.
Giving the details of the investment the Indian companies had made in Scotland, the first minister said that during the last five years, 11 Indian companies had made an investment of $700 million in his country, which was rather marvellous and positively
impacting the economic growth of Scotland. He further said that during those five years, the 11 investing companies had extended 3200 employment opportunities for Scottish people. The minister further revealed to the media that around 4,000 Indian students
were studying in various colleges and universities of Scotland.
While sharing her remarks, Lena Wilson, the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise said that there were tremendous opportunities for Scottish businesses and companies to develop investment programs and partnerships with Indian business enterprises.
Representing the tourism industry of Scotland, chief executive of Visit Scotland, Malcolm Roughead said that tourism from India to Scotland was worth $15 million. He further said that as India was emerging as an international market with a great growth potential,
he expected the figures to escalate in the tourism industry. While sharing the reasons for his visits to India, the chief executive further said that engaging with travel agents, building trade contacts and giving the media a chance to have a face-to-face
interaction will help in capitalizing the investment potential of both the countries.
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