India’s president to visit Suriname in June
India’s president, Ram Nath Kovind, will reportedly visit Suriname in June. It will the first time ever in the history of Suriname that a head of state from India will visit Suriname. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also expected to visit Suriname later this year.
Indian officials have already confirmed Kovind’s visit. President Kovind will also visit other countries in the Caribbean but his main destination is Suriname. He has taken notice of the fact that about 230,000 people who are descendants of immigrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Kolkata and therefore wants to have a look around in person.
President Kovind will also meet President Desi Bouterse and Vice President Ashwin Adhin. Sources told Times of Suriname that the Office of the Vice President is currently busy planning the activities.
The real work will take place when MP Modi visits Suriname. Officials from both nations are expected to discuss the credit line Suriname has with India and other matters such as the diplomatic, cultural and trade relations. One of the issues that will most certainly be discussed is the problems that Indian company FFF faces in its attempts to start up a palm oil industry in Suriname. MP Modi reportedly mentioned this during VP Adhin’s visit to India. Suriname reportedly is not impressed by the way FFF wants to carry out its business plans in Suriname. $250 million will be invested in the project but only after the State gives the papers to the land to FFF. MP Rashid Doekhie (NDP), special envoy of President Bouterse, reportedly explained that heg ets the impression that the FFF wants to use the land papers to go shopping for investment capital. “50,000 hectares is a huge area and I am not in favor of giving it to somebody for 40 years especially when that person lacks the funds to make investments,” MP Doekhie told Parliament in August 2016. “If that is the way things are going, it would be better for us to start up our own palm oil industry because we already own the land. We could seek the investment capital ourselves.”