IndiGo launches Shanghai-Kolkata direct flight
Beijing (PTI): IndiGo airline on Monday launched its daily flight from Shanghai to Kolkata boosting the air connectivity between India and China.
The IndiGo6E flight was launched by Indian Consulate General in Shanghai Pratik Mathur.
Meeting the IndiGo management team on the occasion, Mathur underlined the positive momentum, appreciated the growing confidence and enthusiasm being expressed through the booming air connectivity and the resurgent economic links between India and the region, the Indian Consulate in Shanghai said in a post on X.
Indian airlines such as IndiGo and Air India have started connecting Shanghai with metro cities such as New Delhi and Kolkata.
Kolkata is the second Indian metro after New Delhi now linked with Shanghai, China’s commercial capital.
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Air China plans to launch a direct flight between Beijing and New Delhi on April 21, according to officials.
The new route linking Shanghai-Kolkata is also expected to push the development of India’s northeast, Mathur said.
Kolkata and Shanghai traditionally enjoy very strong relations with Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore having visited the city thrice in 1913, 1923 and 1931, he said.
The new connectivity will further encourage people-to-people ties between eastern India and eastern China, led by the two major cities Kolkata and Shanghai respectively, he said.
India and China resumed flights between different cities of the two countries in October last year after a five-year freeze in relations.
IndiGo operates flights from Kolkata to Guangzhou and Delhi to Guangzhou.
Chinese airline China Eastern also resumed flight operations from Shanghai to Delhi.
The flight services between the two sides were suspended following the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. They were not restored in view of the over-four-year border face-off in eastern Ladakh, which ended in October last year.
The process of normalisation of India, China relations followed two summits between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Kazan in Russia in 2024 followed by a second meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Tianjin last year.
Besides flights, India and China have initiated a series of measures to normalise their relations.
In July, India resumed granting tourist visas to Chinese nationals.
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EAM Jaishankar meets Jamaican PM, gifts over 10 BHISHM Cubes
Kingston (PTI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday met Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness and discussed ways to further deepen "political, economic and people-to-people cooperation."
Jaishankar also conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Holness.
"Pleased to call on Prime Minister @AndrewHolnessJM in Kingston. Conveyed the greetings of PM @narendramodi," Jaishankar posted on X.
"Discussed deepening our political, economic and people-to-people cooperation. Value his commitment towards further strengthening India-Jamaica relations," the post further read.
Also, the external affairs minister handed over 10 BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita & Maitri) Cubes as a gift to Jamaica.
"Formally handed over 10 BHISHM Cubes as a gift from India to Jamaica, in the presence of PM @AndrewHolnessJM, Health Minister @christufton and FM @kaminajsmith," Jaishankar posted on X.
"The BHISHM Cube mobile hospital system, designed for rapid deployment, will help Jamaica during disasters and emergencies. The gift of these cubes is a statement of friendship, a commitment to disaster preparedness, and an outcome of innovation," the post said.
Jaishankar arrived in Kingston on Saturday evening, marking the first leg of his nine-day tour of Jamaica, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, aimed at further strengthening India's strategic and cultural ties with the Caribbean nations.
Earlier in the day, he interacted with the Indian diaspora and discussed India's ongoing transformation in infrastructure, human development and technology-driven governance and entrepreneurship with them.
He also highlighted the cricket bond between both countries as India gifted a scoreboard to Jamaica.
A scoreboard was dedicated at Sabina Park in Kingston. It is the home of the Jamaica cricket team and is the only Test cricket ground in the Caribbean island nation.
The minister expressed hope that the new scoreboard would witness many memorable innings, including those symbolising the enduring friendship between the two countries.
Cricket has long been a strong cultural bridge between India and Jamaica, which is part of the West Indies cricket team.
Jamaican players, including Chris Gayle, Courtney Walsh and Michael Holding, have played a major role in shaping the legacy of West Indies cricket in the international arena, contributing to its dominance in earlier decades and its continued global appeal.
