STUTTGART CELEBRATES ITS ASSOCIATION WITH MUMBAI

Mumbai 28th January 2017

World over each country wants to expand footprints of its commerce, culture, food, way of life and  films by identifying one of its city with a city in another country which can be closer to their own with consent of that country, such cities  care called sister or twin cities. This gives an opportunity to initiate people to people dialogue, cultural exchange and increased tourist inflow. Germany and India have identified Stuttgart and Mumbai as twin cities in the year 1968 and experience great commitment in the cultural, social, political and economical fields ever since. The activities of the two cities focus mainly on education,businesses, tourism and film.


Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg situated in the southwest of Germany. It is Germany’s sixth-largest city with around 600,000 inhabitants. Stuttgart and its surrounding area are one of the most high-performing economic regions in Europe. The City ranks among the most important economic locations in Germany. The Stuttgart Metropolitan Region with a population of more than 3.5 million attracts numerous regional and international companies. It is also Germany´s leading export region. Compared to other economic locations, Stuttgart and the Stuttgart region are perfectly positioned, also relating to growth, employment, purchasing power and investment and the great diversity of innovative fields of research.


Today, a high level team under leadership of Lord Mayor of Stuttgart Fritz Kuhan was in town and interacted with local trade and business community, they had day long  events at Taj Landsend. We met Lord Mayor Kuhan  from the sideline of events. He is basically a politician belonging to German Green Party. He says that he firmly believes in liberal trade and business, and free flow of culture. He did not mince a word to hit politicians like Trump who talks about creating barriers like America First, he says that this America first, India first or Germany first will create barriers thus  more problem to the people across the globe.


There are plenty of activities in the educational sector also , one of them is fostered by the Ferdinand-Porsche-Gymnasium that maintains a partnership with an Indian school. Vocational schools in Stuttgart also cultivate their relationship with educational institutions in India. The intention of these relations is to familiarize young generation  with the culture of their respective host country through various exchange programs.

Universities, science insitutions and the students of both partner countries have shown great commitment as well. Classic examples that can be cited are the exchange between the Rachana Sansad´s Academy of Architecture in Mumbai and the Department of Urban Planning of the city of Stuttgart, as well as the co-operation between the Insitute of Inorganic Chemistry and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).In addition, numerous cooperation projects in waste management and urban development exist at the community level. In the health sector, cooperation agreements were concluded between several hospitals in Mumbai and in Stuttgart in the past few years regarding exchange of specialists and nursing staff.

Since 2004 projects of encounter such as, Stuttgart meets Mumbai“ are taking place regularly. Since 2002 Mumbai and Stuttgart maintain their annual town-twinning meeting. As a part of it, discussions at political levels are conducted, cooperation initiated and intensified.

A cultural highlight is the Indian film festival  'Bollywood and Beyond' hosted annually by Stuttgart since 2004. This, almost week-long festival, showcases Indian movies, documentaries and short-films. Over the years, it has taken centre stage and attracts  many Indian directors, producers and actors, who join as  it has emerged as the biggest Indian film festival in Europe, and draws over 10,000 visitors. Last year 40 new films with focus on  "stong women in India" were presented at the Festival. Director Vikramaditya Motwane was awarded the prestigious "German Star of India" award worth € 4,000 for his film 'Udaan,' an emotional story about a father-son relationship.This year The festival will be held in July, Oliver Mahn CEO of Filmburo Bade-Wurttenberg and his colleague Ms. Elisa Kromier were also flown for this event, they organised two hour long works shop for the Bollywood fraternity to give them an idea about the festival. the festival has grown in size and an event called Indian week is now organised in Stuttgart synchronizing with Film Festival This eventful week features, the Indo-German Business forum, discussions concerning India-related issues, an Indian food-festival, a bazaar with Indian arts and crafts, exhibitions, workshops and much more. Uma de Cunha is curator to the festival from almost a decade, she was also present at workshop and shared her plesant memories with the audience.

Lord Mayor Kuhan informs that  there is one more addition to the Stuttgart  India Festival to attract theatre personalities from India.The Theater am Faden Stuttgart“ organizes the „India-Series“ inviting dancers, singers and musicians from India who bring the flair of Mumbai and Kolkata to Heslach with their traditional Indian music and classical Indian dance forms.

Today's  event also showcased some of the finest wines from the region. Surrounding area of Stuttgart of Federal Baden Wittenberg is closer to black forest is known for its vineyards and wine making.The Baden vineyards run north-south for 250 miles along the eastern bank of the River Rhine. The climate is similar to the famous French wine-making areas of Alsace, Champagne, and the Loire. The other wine-making region, Württemberg, is farther east, running to the north and south of Stuttgart. This is the only German region where red wine is the specialty.
In Baden, the main varieties are Pinot noir , pinot gris and pinot blanc . These give the region its distinctive character. Other popular and traditionalgrape varieties include Müller-Thurgau, Chasselas, Riesling, and Sylvaner. But wine growers are alsoexperimenting successfully with varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. And Württemberg is equally varied, with two exceptions: Trollinger and Lemberger are rightly regarded as regional specialties.The guests at the event enjoyed Riesling, known as king of white wines..It is subtle and sophisticated, with a balance between high acidity and flowery aromas, this is the most complex grape variety in the world, a wine that you can drink young everyday – or, when aged, on those special occasions.