Bratislava (Slovakia): India and Slovakia have significant opportunities to strengthen their collaboration in film production and the growing media and entertainment industry, President Droupadi Murmu said here on Wednesday.
In her discussions with her Slovak counterpart President Peter Pellegrini, Murmu, who is on a two-day State Visit, invited Slovakia to take part in the upcoming WAVE Summit being hosted by India in Mumbai from May 1 to 4.
She also underlined the need to promote Slovakia as a filming destination and a partner in joint film production, a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan said.
“She highlighted the immense potential for the two countries to collaborate more closely in the rapidly expanding media, entertainment and creative economy sectors of India, including promotion of Slovakia as a filming destination and a partner in joint film production,” the statement said.
Slovakia has been a favourite haunt of Hollywood producers, but the Indian film industry turned its attention to the High Tatra mountains only in 2019 when the Amitabh Bachchan starrer Chehre was shot here.
President Murmu reached here on the final leg of her two-nation visit to Portugal and the Slovak Republic with a delegation comprising the Minister of State, Nimuben Bambhaniya, and Members of Parliament Dhaval Patel and Sandhya Ray, besides senior officers.
She was extended a traditional Slovak welcome with bread and salt by a couple in folk dress and accorded a ceremonial welcome with the Guard of Honour.
President Murmu discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and issues of shared global and regional interests with President Pellegrini during the one-to-one meeting and delegation-level talks, the statement said.
She also held talks with Prime Minister Robert Fico. “India greatly values our traditionally close and friendly ties with the Slovak Republic, based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and convergence of views on global issues,” she told Fico.
The two leaders agreed to further diversify and strengthen bilateral relations in all areas of mutual interest, the statement said.
President Murmu later laid a wreath at the Gate of Freedom Memorial located at the confluence of the Morava and Danube rivers below Devin Castle right at the border with Austria.
The bullet-riddled concrete gate honours 400 people killed while attempting to escape Czechoslovakia’s heavily guarded border between 1945 and 1989 during the Cold War.
Barbed-wire fences, electrified barriers, and the Iron Curtain prevented free movement from Soviet satellite states to the West, with escape attempts punished by imprisonment or death.
In the evening, President Pellegrini hosted an elaborate State Banquet in the honor of President Murmu.
