Newcastle [England], August 31 : Indian High Commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami appointed Meenu Malhotra as the first Honorary Council of Newcastle, the northernmost metropolitan borough of the country.
The Tyneside-based Malhotra Group has built up a large property portfolio across the region, in addition to having an interest in care homes. It also has commercial property developments in India, the home country of its chairman, Meenu Malhotra.
While speaking with ANI, Vikram Doraiswami said, "It's an honorary consul. The idea is to utilise all the energy and the relationships that Meenu Malhotra has built in the region, not just for his business but also as an Indian in this area..."
Doraiswami further said, "An honorary consulate allows us to create what we might not be able to do in creating a full-fledged home team staff because the investment is a lot. And also there are limits to how many consulates we can have in a country. This is a fast, effective, and organic way of building relationships..."
Meanwhile, the newly appointed honorary counsel of India to Newcastle, Meenu Malhotra said that new India House will represent our High Commission in London and emphasized the vast potential for synergy between the north-east region of England and India. He said, "... Work starts now... The new India House will serve our community and will represent our High Commission in London. There is a huge scope of synergies between our region and India..."
He added, "All the people in the north-east of England no longer have to travel all the way to London. We will take care of all their needs and advisories. They are more than welcome to visit and connect with the office and we are here to bridge the gap which has existed for a long time..."
Notably, the event was held in the Hilton Gateshead Hotel in Newcastle.
Many prominent personalities like Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman of Hero Enterprise and Guy Opperman, former minister of Pensions, Employment and Transport, were present at the event.
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