Heads of Missions meet to discuss strategies to put states on global map

The annual Heads of Missions (HoM) meetings are typically low-key, quiet affairs held in the somewhat sterile environs of Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan.

India’s 118 –odd HoMs around the world travel back to Delhi where they are addressed by the external affairs minister, the foreign secretary, and sometimes, even the Prime Minister.

Issues of global strategy, geopolitics, and threat perception were discussed, and sometimes external experts were called in to brief.

“Usually, the foreign secretary decides the format,” said former Indian ambassador to Myanmar and Afghanistan Gautam Mukhopadhaya, adding that at some meetings, Indian envoys in some countries were asked to make presentations — as did he on Afghanistan and Myanmar during his tenure there.

This year, however, the format was changed radically.

The HoM meeting was moved out of Delhi for the first time ever, to Kevadia in Gujarat. Here, under the watchful eye of Sardar Patel, whose 182-metre statue dwarfs the surrounding hills, HoMs discussed not just how the world sees India, but also how India can be marketed to the world.

Again, for the first time, envoys were asked during their visit to return to their home states, touch base with their roots, and see how best they could promote to the world the resources of their states.

Manipur Chief Minister (CM) N Biren Singh, for instance, hosted a Manoj Kumar Bharti (Indonesia), Nguikham Jathom Gangte (Tunisia), Y K Sailas Thangal (Republic of Cote d’Ivoire), Rahul Shrivastava (Romania), and R Masakui (Jamaica) over two days.

The CM and the envoys (four of them Manipuris themselves) talked as equals: how could Manipur’s cultural heritage be promoted in Europe, Africa, and other geographies? Could Manipur, home to promising athletes, get sports training in Jamaica? Could skilled manpower be exported to Romania, which is on an infrastructure development blitz? What would it take to make inroads into the world horticulture market with some of Manipur’s best products — like pineapple? One of the envoys present even suggested that Manipur consider setting up a special economic zone for its famous home-brewed liquor, Sekmai Yu, which could be a global hit if packaged and marketed properly.

The biggest complement of envoys was the one that visited Uttar Pradesh (UP). The 15-strong team included Indian envoys to Ireland, Laos, Poland, Jordan, Mexico, Nepal, Bhutan, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Bahrain, Botswana, and Portugal. Apparently disparate, what they had in common was that most of them belong to UP. The envoys suggested to CM Yogi Adityanath that UP should consider setting up a “fund-raising department to strengthen the state’s economy”. This was immediately accepted by the government. Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra said the government would begin work on it.

Flagging the three-day global investors’ summit to be hosted by the state in Lucknow from February 10-12 next year, Mishra said the event would be unprecedented and sought the support of the envoys in making it successful. He told them 10,000 delegates would be in attendance and it would help UP become a $1-trillion economy. Mishra said the global marketing of projects such as a plastics park, toy park, film city, logistics park, mega leather park, and medical devices park would help in getting investment.

Envoys of India in Argentina, Lebanon, Oman, and Zimbabwe met Madhya Pradesh (MP) CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Ambassador to Oman, Amit Narang, is a Jabalpur boy. Ambassador to Lebanon, Suhail Ejaz Khan, is from Indore. The CM told the envoys that MP had been selected to host the Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas on January 8-10, 2023. This would be held in Indore. A two-day global investor summit would follow.

How could the envoys contribute?

The same question was put to the envoys by Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, who met Indian envoys to Sweden, Tajikistan, Panama, Brunei, Kenya, Slovenia, and Algeria, and spoke to them about all that Uttarakhand had achieved in terms of infrastructure and tourism development. The envoys said properly manufactured, branded, and packaged, the products and food of the mountainous region of the state could find a good market abroad.

Envoys also met Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who exuded confidence about the state. “Haryana has huge potential for industrial investment. Be it the information technology sector or car manufacturing, Haryana has created a unique identity in the industrial sector. This progress will increase more rapidly in the future,” Khattar told envoys.

India’s envoys to Liberia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Paraguay, Denmark, and Zambia attended the meeting. Interestingly, also present was an honorary Harayanvi, Pradeep Kumar Rawat, India’s ambassador to China. Rawat studied mechanical engineering at the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, from 1982-87, before he joined the foreign service and has fond memories of growing up in Haryana.

B Bala Bhaskar and Parvathaneni Harish, Indian ambassadors in Norway and Germany, respectively, travelled to Vijayawada to meet CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy. They learnt about the new seaports, fishing harbours, and port-related industrial parks that the state government was developing. Both are posted in countries that appreciate coffee and the CM said he could use their help in developing a market for Andhra coffee.

While the envoys said they were energised by their state visits, there were some glaring gaps. Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu were significant omissions. Smaller states like Puducherry don’t have foreign service officers.

Veterans from the foreign service say HoM meetings were held sporadically until former foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon made them an annual affair, starting 2008. Under Sushma Swaraj, domestic travels by Indian diplomats posted abroad, especially to the Northeast, got a special fillip.

It is too early to assess what the meeting will yield. But this much is true: that the sons of the soil will carry the scent of the soil to capitals around the world.