Bhubaneswar: President of Trinidad and Tobago Christine Carla Kangaloo will be the chief guest at the 18th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be held in Bhubaneswar from January 8 to 10.
This was revealed at a review meeting, presided by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, on preparation for the event in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Kangaloo will also interact with the students of Godibari Government School in Chandaka of the city during her stay.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off Pravasi Bharatiya Express on the occasion while Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat will attend the event.
The chief minister said the event offered an opportunity to represent the art and culture of Odisha at international level. No effort should be spared to extend best services to the guests coming to attend the event, he added.
While around 7,000 guests from the country and abroad are scheduled to attend the mega event, 2,748 have already registered with the government. The guests included more than 200 NRIs, Youtubers and Bloggers from 7 countries. For the convenience of the visitors, a good number of high security force, 250 traffic controllers and 140 liaison officers have been appointed.
The guests will be taken on guided tour to 31 attractive tourist spots in Bhubaneswar, Konark, Puri, and Cuttack. Various cultural programmes have also been lined up for them at different place and those would be telecast live on Doordarshan, it was revealed at the meeting.
Among others, deputy chief ministers KV Singhdeo and Pravati Parida, ministers Prithviraj Harichandan, Krushna Chandra Mahapatra, Suryavanshi Suraj, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja and senior officials attended the meeting.
