The Hindu : International / India & World : Salmon high on the agenda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2006
ePaper

International

International - India & World

Salmon high on the agenda

Amit Baruah

Norwegian royalty to head business delegation

OSLO: Salmon will be high on the agenda when Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway arrive in India in the first week of November at the head of a 100-plus business delegation.

The monarchy in Norway is completely ceremonial, but a recent meeting with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess revealed that they are excellent diplomats for their country, and at ease with promoting business, culture and commerce.

Salmon, though important for the Norwegians, will not be all — representatives of oil and gas companies, engineering firms and more will be part of the official delegation. But salmon is an important export and the Norwegians believe that high-end restaurants in a "rising India" will be major buyers of the fish.

A salmon competition will be held in both Mumbai and New Delhi — and none other than Crown Princess Mette-Marit will present a "fish" to the chefs. The objective? Increasing the $6 million Norwegian salmon sales to India last year.

They are not ordinary royals: Prince Haakon had the courage to marry Princess Mette-Marit, a single mother, and both have received the best university education on offer. She has spent a good two months in India on holiday some years ago.

During an encounter with Indian presspersons last week, both showed great interest in India. The Princess showed us a copy of author Jhumpa Lahiri's book Namesake and was avidly interested in anything new that she might read up on India before landing in Mumbai.

More like a continent

When asked what India meant to him, the Crown Prince said he was awestruck by the sheer size of the country. "The country is more like a continent," he said, while the Princess said she really "admired" the integrity of the Indian people. "For me, India has always been connected to Gandhi," the Princess stressed.

In their early thirties, the two royals are concerned with what is happening in the world: the issues of HIV-AIDS and race matters. A special focus during the visit will be in trying to help reduce child mortality rates.

Both stressed that they were keen on bringing together varied peoples of the world. "We need to be able to find some common ground. Our differences can be a resource and we need to find ways of living together peacefully. Basically, move the world in the right direction," the Crown Prince said.

"The way I see it: We all have so many identities. Myself I like music, watching films, I am a man; I'm a father ... it would be wrong to take one of these things such as ethnicity and say that defines me as a person. We need to see people as complex human beings with good and bad traits," he stressed.

"We all have a certain dignity and we need to build on that. We all have a dignity capital that we can build in ourselves ... let's focus on the common ground — what unites us," Prince Haakon said.

On the "polsarisation" of the world after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, Princess Mette-Marit said, "We all need to look at each other as human beings. When I go to India and meet a mother, it's [evident] ... that what she feels as a mother is what I feel as a mother."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International