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Mr Anto Anthony MP is the Member of Parliament – India / Member of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Tourism, Transport and Culture
Mr Anto Anthony spoke during EICBI's virtual summit on Cultural Relationships as Key Driver, for Stronger Trade and Investment Partnerships between India and UK / EU' which was held on 2nd July, 2021
He began his keynote address by sharing happiness to be part of the summit and commending EICBI for the tremendous work done by it in bridging the trade and market gap and enhancing business to business and people to people ties. Stressing on the current theme of the summit, Honourable Parliamentarian then mentioned how India’s heritage and culture, the oldest civilization in the world, gave birth to many visions and perspectives that became a model to the whole world. The birthplace of Buddhism, India, has ideals as non-violence seeped into her veins. He explained how India manifested these values in her freedom struggle, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, by subduing the British empire not by weapons but by virtuous means. Such great undertakings continue to inspire the world to adopt non-violent behaviour.
India is living testimony to the adage of unity in diversity with more than 19,500 languages or dialects spoken in India as mother tongues and almost all major religions and various caste and cultural practices continue to exist happily together in India. Admiring India's unity in diversity, he emphasised that India’s fast economic growth exists along with its ideals and principles that knit people together based on humanity. He then talked about the importance of cultural interaction. He said that the values of British democracy had a crucial influence in the progressive evolution of Indian parliamentary democracy. His native land, Kerala, gained immensely from millennials of cultural exchanges with people around the world. He mentioned that India’s huge demographic dividend could learn much from yesteryear’s cultural heritage and contribute immensely to the betterment of the world. He opined that the collaboration of great ideals of India and the world could come to fruition through cultural exchange and it will serve as a key driver to the industries and progress. He concluded his talk in the hope that events like this will help us in enhancing cultural understanding and increasing cultural interactions for a more peaceful and prosperous world.