Andhra Pradesh bags top honour at National Tourism Awards
New Delhi, Sep 27: Andhra Pradesh bagged the top honour at the National Tourism Awards 2017-18, which were presented by Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Friday.
A total of 76 awards were given under various categories this year.
Andhra Pradesh bagged the Best State award for overall growth in tourism category.
Goa and Madhya Pradesh were the joint winners in the Adventure Tourism category and Uttarakhand won the award for the Best Film Promotion-Friendly State.
Telangana won the award for the Best State for the innovative use of IT.
Speaking at the awards ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan here, Naidu said doing business in India has become easier and more tourists are visiting the country.
Earlier businesses were caught in red tape. Now tourists get a red carpet welcome in India, he said.
Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel and Secretary-General of World Tourism Organisation Zurab Pololikashvili were also present on the occasion.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Energy, defence and trade on agenda as FS Misri heads to Europe amid West Asia crisis
New Delhi (PTI): Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri will undertake a three-day visit to Paris and Berlin beginning Sunday for high-level talks on energy, trade and defence -- sectors that have become increasingly critical amid a fractured geopolitical landscape.
Misri's visit to France and Germany comes at the end of his trip to the US, where he met Secretary of State Marco Rubio and a number of other senior officials of the Trump administration.
The West Asia crisis and its impact on energy security are expected to figure prominently in Misri's talks with the interlocutors in Paris and Berlin.
In Paris, the foreign secretary will co-chair the India-France Foreign Office Consultations along with Martin Briens, the secretary general of the French Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement on Saturday.
Both Misri and Briens will discuss a wide range of issues, including defence, civil nuclear energy, space, cyber and digital, artificial intelligence and initiatives fostering people-to-people exchanges in addition to the latest global and regional developments, it said.
In Berlin, the foreign secretary will co-chair the India-Germany Foreign Office Consultations alongside Géza Andreas von Geyr, the state secretary of the German Foreign Office, the MEA said.
The discussions would cover diverse domains of bilateral cooperation, including trade and investments, defence and security, technology, green energy, development cooperation, education and people-to-people ties, as well as global and regional matters of mutual interest, it said.
Misri is also expected to meet other dignitaries and senior government officials in both Paris and Berlin.
The foreign secretary's trip follows the visits of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron to India in January and February, respectively.
It will provide an opportunity to review the full spectrum of India's bilateral relations with both countries and advance ongoing cooperation across key priority areas, the MEA said.
