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During his 3-day visit to Suriname, India’s president, Ram Nath Kovind, pointed out that India wants to strengthen the ties with Suriname and that India is counting on the support of Suriname in its bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). President Kovind on Thursday left for Cuba. “Suriname still has not made a decision and we also have not revealed our position on the matter yet. We will take India’s request into consideration and at the same time we will also determine our position and who we want to support,” Foreign Affairs (Buza) Minister Yldiz Pollack-Beighle told Times of Suriname. The minister added that India is a very good partner of Suriname and that both countries support each other on the international stage. “We can count on each other’s support in various international affairs. Suriname and India are good partners of each other and the visit of the Indian president has further strengthened the existing relationship,” said Minister Beighle who added that both countries have had good ties with each other since 1873 and that it is easier to collaborate because there are many similarities between the people of India and those of Suriname. “The reason why the Suriname is the only South American country that the Indian president visited is because Suriname has preserved the original form of Indian culture and religion as much as possible and because it has also developed it further. Here we also still speak Hindi and the Indian president therefore feels right at home here. Suriname is strategically located in South America which makes us very attractive to India which wants to have access to the rest of the region via us. Suriname has many minerals which India is also interested in and India wants to be partners in that area. They see many opportunities in us. Not only for themselves but also for the development of Suriname ,” said Minister Pollack-Beighle.