JOIN USNew envoys of Australia, others present Letters of Credence to President Ram Nath Kovind virtually
President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday accepted the Letters of Credence from the new envoys of Australia and six other foreign countries to India through a video-conference.
This was the first time in the history of Rashtrapati Bhavan the President accepted the Letters of Credence from newly-appointed foreign envoys through video-conference, as a formal ceremony could not be held in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the curbs enforced to contain it.
The envoys, who presented the Letters of Credence through video-conference, included new High Commissioner of Australia to India, Barry Robert O’Farrell.
“I am immensely honoured to be taking over as Australia’s new High Commissioner to India – a role that will allow me to expand the ties between our two countries and importantly to advance the interests, the opportunities and the futures of citizens of both our two countries,” O’Farrell said.
O’Farrell, who has taken over as Canberra’s 21st envoy to New Delhi, served in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1995 to 2015, including as the State’s 43rd Premier between 2011 and 2014.
As Premier, he initiated and led annual trade missions from New South Wales to India to promote economic, cultural and social links between the province in Australia and the states of India. He has also served as Special Envoy of New South Wales for India.
The President also accepted the Letter of Credence from Choe Hui Chol, the new ambassador of North Korea to India. Besides, new envoys of Senegal, Mauritius, Cote d’Ivoire, Trinidad & Tobago and Rwanda to India also submitted the Letters of Credence to him through video-conference on Thursday.
The President said that digital technology had enabled the world to overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 and continue routine works in an innovative manner. He called the digitally-enabled credentials ceremony as a special occasion in engagement of the Government of India with the diplomatic community in New Delhi. He further noted that India remained committed to harnessing the limitless possibilities of the digital pathway for the advancement of its people and the world at large.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge to the global community, and the crisis called for greater global co-operation, Kovind told the new foreign envoys to India, pointing out that India had been in the forefront of extending support to fellow nations in fighting the pandemic.
When a diplomat takes over as an envoy of his country in a foreign capital, he formally presents a Letter of Credence signed by the Head of State of the country he represents to the Head of State of the country where he has been posted. A solemn ceremony is generally held at the office or official residence of the Head of the State of the receiving country to mark the presentation of the Letter of Credence. It also marks the formal beginning of the tenure of the envoy in his new office. The COVID-19 outbreak and the continued lockdown however prompted the Rashtrapati Bhavan to hold it through video-conference.
India’s new High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Gopal Baglay, too presented his Letters of Credence to the President of the island nation, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, through video-conference on May 4. So did India’s new Permanent Representative to United Nations in New York, T S Tirumurti.