France to showcase a moveable feast in India

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Kolkata: Calling India a key actor in cultural cooperation across countries, French ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont launched Bonjour India , a festival of France in India . The 3-month long festival (Dec-Feb) with over 100 shows across 18 cities is celebrating 100 years of Indo-French ties.

This will be backed by ‘Namaste France ’ in 2010, said Bonnafont. The festival is being organized at the backdrop of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to France in July.

State chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee offered full support for the festival when the delegation met him earlier in the day. The chief minister called for greater French presence in the state’s economy and suggested food processing & renewable sources of energy as potential areas of investment, the French ambassador said.

World cement major from France, Lafarge, which is one of the main sponsors of the festival, has set up a Rs 300 crore 1 million tonne unit in Bankura.

French companies have evinced interest in setting up projects here, Bonnafont said.

On French investment on the whole in the country, he said France being a world leader in public infrastructure, that is one area, the other being civil nuclear cooperation.

France is also looking to treble its student intake from India and the delegation, in fact, went to some of the city colleges to scout for students.

Kolkata being one of the most culturally demanding cities, the festival’s focus here would be on literature, music and art, the ambassador said. People know more about French classics, but we are trying to make them aware about the modern/new France through the festival, he added.