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Sierra Leone's High Commissioner to India, Rashid Sesay, has said that strengthening bilateral ties and promoting trade and investment between the two nations is a key part of his mandate. He expressed his anticipation for a "productive visit" to Kerala.
Speaking to ANI, Rashid Sesay noted that he is in Kerala to meet Indian Economic Trade Organisation (IETO) President Asif Iqbal and his team. He also mentioned his visit to the Siena College of Hotel and Tourism. He said, "This is part of my task to visit India and see how we can strengthen the bilateral and friendly relationship between India and Sierra Leone, as well as promote trade and investment between the two countries. And so this visit is with regards to achieving, those two major objectives of my mandate in strengthening the relationship between two countries." Regarding his visit to Kerala, he added, "Today, I am in Kerala to meet with the Indian Economic Trade Organisation, Dr Asif Iqbal and his team. They have put together a very, very important programme for me for the next couple of days. I've started already on arrival this morning, I met with the Siena College of Hotel and Tourism. I had a very, very productive interaction with the students and to see how we can learn from the experiences of Kerala and the college and see how we can move that into Sierra Leone." Rashid Sesay also mentioned that he is looking forward to visiting health centers in Kerala. "I'm told that Kerala provides one of the best facilities in the area of medicine, and there are many Africans. I'm sure Sierra Leoneans are also travelling to Kerala for travelling and so I'm looking forward to the visits of the hospital this afternoon and see what facilities are there and how we could learn from that and improve on Sierre Leones that are coming here for medical treatment and create that strong relationship between the institutions, the medical institutions here and Sierra Leone back home," he noted. Further, Sesay mentioned that he will interact with investors who are interest to invest in Sierra Leone and share with them the huge potential of his country. He thanked Asif Iqbal and his team for making his visit "successful." About his upcoming engagements in Kerala, Sierra Leone envoy said, "Tomorrow will be the highlight of my visit to Kerala district wherein I will interact with a handful of investors, prominent investors in this region who are interested in investing in Sierra Leone. I will share the Sierra Leone experience, the opportunities there, the potential, the huge potential that we have in Sierra Leone that they could tap into and know what their interests are from our point of view." "So in general, I am looking forward to a very productive visit here and I want to take this opportunity to thank Dr Iqbal and his team for what they've been able to do to make this visit a a very successful one. And thanks to all the good people of this district, I've heard so much about Kerela and today I'm witnessing that it's not different from what I've heard, that it's a very industrious region in this country and so I am pleased and happy to be in your district," he added. (ANI)
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