On September 14, 2022, the Hon’ble Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs , Ms. Catherine Colonna, in her first visit to India, was welcomed by the Office of International Programmes at Lady Shri Ram College for Women.
She was accompanied by the France Ambassador of France Emmanuel Lenain and other dignitaries from the French Embassy for the event organized by LSR.
In her address to more than 120 students, faculty, French dignitaries and media persons, she stated that student mobility is one of the top goals for further strengthening the bilateral partnership and shared values between India and France. She emphasised the strong relationship that exists between the two nations in education and training, highlighting the association between Lady Shri Ram College and Sciences Po as an example.
Speaking about declining statistics during the pandemic, she stated that France will receive nearly the same number of Indian students in 2022 as it did in 2019, when over 5000 students finished their procedure for long-term study in France. One of the key targets is to double the number of Indian students in France to 20,000 by 2025, as announced by President Emmanuel Macron.
Talking about gender equality, the French Foreign Minister mentioned, “On the international stage, France has taken measures to make a commitment into action. We adopted an international strategy for gender equality.”
She interacted with the students as part of the people to people ties and replied to questions asked by the students. She also interacted with a group of students later. Prof Sharma, presented a sketch made by Abhirami, a second year Political Science student of LSR to the Hon’ble Minister.
His Excellency and distinguished representatives from the French Embassy attended the ceremony. The event was also attended and covered by important media outlets such as ANI Network, The Hindu, and The Times of India, to mention a few.
