A delegation of Washington State mayors visited India, praising the nation’s profound history, technological progress, and core values of compassion, aiming to strengthen bilateral ties and foster meaningful people-to-people connections.
Washington State Mayors Visit India to Strengthen Ties
October 29 (ANI): Various mayors from the US state of Washington recently expressed their appreciation about the opportunity, history, and culture that India has to offer, highlighting how one of the core Indian values is helping the people of the world. Tina Orwall, Washington State Senator who was part of the Mayors’ delegation, mentioned the strong partnership India has with various countries.
“It was a trip of a lifetime for me. You know, I think about the partnerships of our country, but going there and hearing about your history, the thousands of years that you’ve invented things, technologies, and it always really coming to the core of helping the people of India and the world, and it comes from a place of compassion,” Orwall mentioned, as shared by the Indian consulate in Seattle on X.
Cultural Diversity and Technological Advancements
For Dana Ralph, the mayor of Kent, it was the contrast seen in diversities of multiple cultures existing for thousands of years together. “I learned so much about the thousands of years of history and the things that were invented in India that I had no idea and then going to Mumbai and the cultural center, absolutely incredible. So the contrast between there being villages where there’s children that don’t have a written language that for preserving their spoken language and their heritage and their culture all the way to the amazing technology and advancement and beautiful spaces that are being created today,” she said.
Recognizing Indian Contributions to Humanity
Undervaluing the Indian community before, the Mayor of Tukwila, Thomas McLeod mentioned that he was able to finally see the world “through Indian glasses”, which had him appreciate the various contributions of Indian society, including his visit to the Akshardham Temple.
I got to see your recognition of humanity, your value of humanity, your contributions to humanity. Then we went to the Akshardham Temple. I got to see all the contributions uh that have come from the Indian community uh and the way you just offered them to the world to make it a better place and to bring healing and to bring understanding,” he said. Issaquoah Mayor Mark Mullet mentioned that his own city has a large Indian-born population, making Indians the largest foreign-born population in the city. “They were the most welcoming people I’ve ever experienced in my entire life and you could see the smile on their face to actually have that bond with the mayor had been to their hometown and this is the largest foreign-born population in the city of Issaquah is from India,” Mayor Mullet said.
Mukilteo Mayor Joseph Marine and Ronald J Fredrick, DuPont mayor also highlighted how India has a thousand-year-old history, much older than many of the towns in US have. With such rich culture being offered in India, there comes ample opportunities for both the countries to build bridges for people-to-people connectivity, businesses and to bring ties closer to each other.
The Washington State Mayors’ delegation started their visit to India on October 11, and covered New Delhi, Bhubaneswar, and Mumbai till October 18. With the aim to foster stronger ties, meaningful exchanges and lasting partnerships between India and Washington State. (ANI)
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