THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If India’s Junior Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor succeeds in his efforts, Kerala capital will soon have one of the most vibrant and oldest European cities as its cousin.
According to Tharoor, who represents Thiruvananthapuram in Parliament, he had completed preliminary round of talks with the authorities of Barcelona for twinning it with the Indian state capital.
A team of Barcelona mayor’s international relations council members will visit the city in August and his cultural council in September to explore the areas of cooperation. Twinning his constituency with a vibrant European coastal city was one of Tharoor’s promises in the April elections that the former UN diplomat won by a huge margin.
“The delegations will hold talks with the city mayor here,” Tharoor told a press conference here. “They’ll see if we can take forward the proposal of the project of twinning the cities that more or less have the same profile”.
A weeklong Barcelona festival, which includes films, dance and music, is planned here early next year and the entire expenses of it will be borne by the Spanish embassy. A football team is also expected to arrive from the Spanish city which is also famous for the sport.
The current twin cities of Barcelona include Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Busan, Cologne, São Paulo, St. Petersburg, Havana, Cuba, Kobe, Istanbul, Tel Aviv, Gaza, Dublin, Athens, Isfahan, Sarajevo, Shanghai, Nicosia and Dubai.
“Twinning with a world-class global city that has many things in common with ours but has developed well beyond will provide us with useful partnerships and valuable allies abroad,” said the first-time lawmaker who won the April elections by a huge margin.
According to him, Thiruvananthapuram would not only gain worldwide recognition, but increased opportunities from exchange programmes for the local people, in terms of town planning, public transport, strengthening educational and cultural institutions.
Like Thiruvananthapuram, Barcelona is a coastal city and a regional capital but advanced much more in almost all aspects and has an international profile, relevant experience and the resources as envisioned by Tharoor. “It’s a great coastal regional capital and centre of culture like Thiruvananthapuram”.
“There will be increased people-to-people contact, enhanced scope for businesses, and above all the creation of more jobs. It will promote all aspects of cultural and commercial ties such as capacity building, exchange of best practices, effectiveness, relationship building and networking.
With a population of 1,615,908, Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain and it has the sixth-most populous urban area in the European Union after Paris, London, Ruhr Area, Madrid and Milan. It is also Europe’s largest city on the Mediterranean coast.
Globally recognized for its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts and international trade, Barcelona has a Mediterranean climate with mild, humid winters and warm, dry summers.
Thiruvananthapuram has a population of around a million and is a hub of education, information technology, medical/biotechnology and media industries in Kerala. Tourism is a major contributor to its economy.
