Growing Bahrain and India relations praised

TDT | Manama     

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Reported by Ashen Tharaka

Former Indian President Ram Nath Kovind attended an event in tribute to Bahrain held at The Indian School’s Jashanmal Auditorium in Isa Town yesterday.

Kovind delivered a speech in which he praised the close ties between India and Bahrain and expressed his gratitude to the Bahrain government for its hospitality.

He also urged the Indian community in Bahrain to continue to contribute to the development of the country. The event was organised by the Sree Narayana communities in Bahrain to mark the 169th Sree Narayana Guru Jayanthi celebrations. KG Baburajan, chairman of BKG Holding and QEL, was the patron of the event.

Dr. Mohamed Ali Bahzad, Undersecretary for Consular & Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, represented the Bahrain government at the event.

Indian Ambassador-designate to Bahrain Vinod K Jacob was also present. The event featured an award ceremony to honour top businessmen from the Indian community in Bahrain. The award winners were MA Yusuff Ali, Chairman and Managing Director of Lulu Group; Dr. George Cheriyan, CEO and Chief Medical Officer and American Mission Hospital; VK Rajasekharan Pillai, Chairman of National Group of Companies; Jayashankar Viswanathan, Chief Operating Officer of UNEECO Group of Companies; Pradeep Kumar, Chairman of Delta Electricals; Haji Abdul Rasak, Managing Director of Metalco Group; Habeeb Rahman, CEO of Shifa Aljazeera Medical Center; and Anil Nawani, General Manager of Babasons Megamart.

Special mementos were presented to renowed journalist Soman Baby and to Malayalam movie actress Navya Nair for their support of the event. The event concluded with the release of the 20th-anniversary logo of BILLAWAS, a non-profit organisation that provides social and educational services to the Indian community in Bahrain. The event was a great success and it was a fitting tribute to the long and fruitful relationship between India and Bahrain.