By Guido Lanfranchi.Is there life beyond Earth? And if there is, how can we discover it? On which planet or moon could it be? While we often consider such questions as the topic of science fiction movies and books, scientists at NASA are actually busy in finding concrete answers. On June 19th, Dr. James Green, recently appointed Chief Scientist at NASA, shared his insights about NASA’s efforts in searching forms of life in the solar system.
Making reasonable hypotheses on where to find forms of life beyond our planet, sending space probes across the solar system to collect information, gathering and elaborating such information to refine the hypotheses. These are the tasks that several NASA scientists have been doing, day after day, over the past 15 years, thus dramatically advancing human knowledge on the immense universe that surrounds our planet.
Dr. Jim Green, Chief Scientist of NASA, shared with the international press the efforts of NASA in searching for life beyond our planet. These efforts – Dr. Green said – started to take a more definite shape when NASA asked to several astrobiologists to come up with a definition of life. The experts formulated a definition that could not really satisfy space scientists, as life’s three key “must have” (metabolism, reproduction, and evolution) were hardly measurable.
Nevertheless, NASA did not back down: as metabolism needs water, water became the first criteria to address NASA’s search for life in space. It was in this way that, around 10 years ago, the “follow the water” process started. By 2018, Dr. Green is clearly admitting that NASA has still not found any life yet, but at the same time he proudly informed his public that terrific progress has been made, especially in NASA’s ability to steer and orientate its quest for life. Moreover, while doing so, NASA has also collected an incredible amount of data on all the major bodies in the solar system, by now being able to model planets’ and moons’ evolutions over time.
As a result, NASA scientists can now analyze the past evolution of planets such and Mars and Venus. Both planets – Dr. Green explained – were in the past way more similar to the Earth. However, over the past hundreds of millions of years their atmospheric conditions deeply changed, making them inhabitable today. These observations are incredibly interesting for two reasons. On the one hand, the study of such changes can provide useful insights in evaluating where our planet is headed. On the other hand, this is also of utmost relevance for NASA’s quest for life, as life could have well been present on Mars and Venus, for instance, before their recent atmospheric changes.
Also, Dr. Green described one of NASA’s most tantalizing findings, that is, distant planets that have been often considered inhabitable due to their icy surfaces might well be hosting forms of life. For bodies such as Enceladus and Titan, superficial ice might indeed just be a crust, under which oceans might be existing and fostering life. In order to follow up on these and many other findings, NASA is now planning a series of missions (e.g. to Venus, Europa, Titan, and the Saturn system), especially thanks to the “tremendous support from the American people.”
Questioned by the audience, Dr. Green also answered a series of interesting questions. Questioned about NASA’s budget, Dr. Green expressed its satisfaction with the current sums available, expected to amount to $20 billion for next year only. Moreover, as privates seems to get more and more interested in the business of space, Dr. Green expressed his will to collaborate with the private sector. Such collaboration – he explained – could enable NASA to spare some efforts and money, thus unlocking the organization’s potential to expand its reach into more cutting-edge research domains. Similarly, Dr. Green stressed the profitable cooperation that NASA enjoys with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the US Department of Defense, recently tasked by the US President to establish a military space force.
Finally, Dr. Green, asked by the audience about specific projects, discussed some of NASA’s upcoming activities, such as the Europa Clipper mission and the Lunar Orbital Platform Gateway. More specifically on NASA’s Mars program, Green announced the organization’s next step, that is, to be able to bring back to our planet samples from Mars surface. When analyzed with NASA’s technological equipment as it is available on Earth, such samples might well provide interesting insights on possible forms of life living in Mars in the past.
While we conduct our daily lives as if nothing was happening, we might want to keep in mind the incredibly important researches that Dr. Green and his colleagues are daily, restlessly working on. The discoveries that NASA is making now – Dr. Green said – “are not going to appear in textbooks for perhaps many years.” Luckily, at least they are going to be in some newspapers and magazine. To all the people interested: food for thought is up for grabs.
HRH Preah Ang Machas (High Prince) Sisowath Tesso of Cambodia.
Entretien avec Son Altesse Royale le Haut Prince Sisowath Tesso, Directeur du Ballet Royal du Cambodge
Diplomat Magazine: Prince Tesso, la Princesse Norodom Buppha Devi et vous emmenâtes une délégation du Ballet Royal du Cambodge en Suisse et en France en mai dernier. Pourquoi est-ce que vous avez choisi ces deux pays ?
Le Ballet Royal se produit régulièrement en Europe tous les 2 ou 3 ans. La France est le principal pays oùnous donnons nos représentations dans de nombreuses villes. Cette année nous nous sommes produit à Paris au Philarmonique de la Cité de la Musique, mais nous avons beaucoup de plaisir égalementà danser dans des villes de provinces comme Mérignac, Calais, Enghein, etc… Nous essayons également de promouvoir le Ballet Royal dans les autres pays d’Europe, et c’est pour cette raison que le Ballet Royal se produisait pour la première fois en Suisse.
Diplomat Magazine : Les art et la culture khmères ne sont pas assez connues à l’étranger, croyez vous que ces voyages et représentations aident à promouvoir et créer une conscience du riche héritage du royaume ?
Le Ballet Royal du Cambodge est inscrit au patrimoine immatériel de l’UNESCO depuis 2003, aussi il est un art universel. Nous avons le devoir en tant que Cambodgiens et membres de la Famille Royale de le faire mieux connaitreauprès des autres pays. Même si cela est difficile et onéreux car nous sommes une troupe d’environ 40 à 45 personnes, un spectacle du ballet Royal du Cambodge chorégraphie par SAR la Princesse Norodom Buppha Devi, est un évènement unique et rare à ne pas manquer de voir au moins une fois dans sa vie.
Diplomat Magazine: Ce quoi l’importance du Ballet Royal cambodgien dans la société khmère actuelle ?
Le Ballet Royal, même si de nos jours a perdu de son prestige royal et religieux, reste néanmoins pour beaucoup de jeunes cambodgiens une fierté nationale, car c’est une forme artistique unique dans le monde, qui prend ses origines depuis le XII-èmesiècle et n’a pas perdu de sa splendeur à travers les temps et les âges. C’est un art fragile transmis oralement du professeur à l’élève et quimême si les danses sont présentes comme un spectacle gardent malgré tout aux yeux et dans le cœur des cambodgien un sens profondément sacré et mystérieux.
Françoise Nyssen, French Minister of Culture with HRH Princess Norodom Buppha Devi, President of the Royal Cambodian Ballet.Diplomat Magazine: SM le Roi Sihamoni du Cambodge, SAR la Princesse Norodom Buppha Devi sont des anciens danseurs. Quel rôle est-ce que le ballet joue près de la royauté khmère ?
L’instruction des arts dans la famille Royale du Cambodge est une tradition et fait partie intégrante de notre éducation. Le défunt Roi Sihanouk était compositeur, musiciens, chanteur et avait égalementréalise des films. De nos jours hélas les jeunes princes et princesses n’ont plus vraiment la possibilité de consacrer du temps à leur éducation culturelle, les obligations des enseignements modernes les obligent à se consacrer plutôt à l’apprentissage des langues et des nombreuses matières universitaires.
Diplomat Magazine: Envisagez la possibilité de rouvrir le Palais Royale pour faciliter les répétitions des danses sacrés ?
De nos jours le Ballet Royal est rattaché au Ministère de la Culture et des Beaux-arts. Ceci permet aux élèves et étudiantsd’avoiraccès a un enseignement large et varie suivant le circuit scolaire et universitaire comme n’importe quel autre élèves ou étudiants. Les meilleurs d’entre eux et parfois les plus chanceux, sont alors sélectionnés par la Princesse Buppha Devi qui les forme personnellement à son domicile pour qu’elles intègrent sa troupe du Ballet Royal et puissent ainsi suivre une carrière de danseuse étoile.
Diplomat Magazine: La Ministre de la Culture, Françoise Nyssen, a participé à une soirée du ballet à la Philharmonie de Paris. Est-ce que vous voyez un nouvel intérêt vers le Cambodge en France ?
Les liens qui unissent la France au Cambodge datent de plusieurs siècles et ne s’est jamais dégradé ou estompé, au contraire depuis la fin des années noire du régime Khmer Rouge et de la guerre, la France a toujours soutenu et encourage le renouveau des arts traditionnels au Cambodge. Le premier spectacle du ballet royal a l’étranger fut donné au Château de Versailles en 1999.
Á savoir plus:
The Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum exhibits between 28 June and 17 September 2018Les Mondes de Chaumet: l’art de la joaillerie depuis 1780.
Drawing together a breathtaking array of pieces from Chaumet’s own archive, as well as from museums and private collectors around the world, the exhibition puts the emphasis on remarkable headpieces, particularly tiaras and diadems.
Likewise it celebrates the house’s steadfast relationship with Japan, established during the mid-19th century, when Japonism influenced every aspect of the arts in Europe, and perpetuated by today’s most loyal Chaumet clients, many of whom are based in Japan.
For further information:
CWC Conference of the States Parties Adopts Decision Addressing the Threat from Chemical Weapons Use
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — 27 June 2018 —Today, the Fourth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) adopted a decision on addressing the threat from chemical weapons use.
The decision brought forward by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and supported by 30 countries (Albania, Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States of America), was adopted with 106 States Parties present and voting; 82 States Parties voted yes and 24 States Parties voted no.
In adopting the decision, States Parties condemned “in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons by anyone under any circumstances, emphasising that any use of chemical weapons anywhere, at any time, by anyone, under any circumstances is unacceptable and contravenes international norms and standards”. The decision also condemned the use of chemical weapons since 2012 in Iraq, Malaysia, the Syrian Arab Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as well as the use of chemical weapons by State and by non-State actors as a direct threat to the object and purpose of the convention.
The decision expressed support and appreciation for the professional, impartial, and independent work of the Director-General and the Technical Secretariat. It also calls upon the Secretariat to put in place arrangements “to identify the perpetrators of the use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Arab Republic by identifying and reporting on all information potentially relevant to the origin of those chemical weapons in those instances in which the OPCW Fact-Finding Mission determines or has determined that use or likely use occurred, and cases for which the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism has not issued a report”.
The decision further affirmed that whenever chemical weapons use occurs on the territory of a State Party, “those who were the perpetrators, organisers, sponsors or otherwise involved should be identified” and it underscored “the added value of the Secretariat conducting an independent investigation of an alleged use of chemical weapons with a view to facilitating universal attribution of all chemical weapons attacks”.
States Parties also reiterated the role of the OPCW Executive Council regarding cases of non-compliance with the Chemical Weapons Convention.
The decision requests the Secretariat to preserve and provide information to the investigative mechanism established by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution 71/248 (2016), as well as to any relevant investigatory entities established by the United Nations.
At the opening of the Conference, OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü stated: “I have not hesitated in pointing out that currently there is no mechanism that would ensure that those who use chemical weapons are held fully accountable. Investigations of alleged use of chemical weapons are essential if we are to preserve the core norms of the Convention, its credibility, and its integrity. Chemical weapons use, wherever it occurs, is a serious offence requiring resolute action. If accountability is avoided, the potential re-emergence and acceptance of chemicals as weapons of war and terror will not be deterred.”
At the next regular session of the Conference, scheduled for November 2018, the Director-General is invited to submit: proposals to enhance the capacity and tools of the Secretariat to strengthen implementation of the Convention’s verification regime; options for further assistance the Secretariat may provide to States Parties to enable them to implement their obligations under the Convention, to enhance chemical security, and to enable international cooperation in the field of chemical activities for purposes not prohibited under the Convention; and other proposals to strengthen the capability of the Secretariat.
By Roy Lie Atjam.
The Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, held the Fourth Special Session of the CSP on Tuesday, 26, The special session will continue up to June 28 June 2018.
The conference was convened at the request of the Permanent Representatives (Article VIII(B) Rule 6) of Australia, Bulgaria,Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New-Zealand, Poland, Romania, The UK and Northern Ireland and the USA. The focus was on Upholding the global ban against chemical weapons use.
The Conference opened on Tuesday, 26 June 2018 at 9:30h, in the King Willem Alexander Theatre, The Hague.
The chairman of the Fourth Special Session of the CSPSS4, Mr. Abdelouahab Bellouki did the opening in both the English- and Arabic language.
Featuring on the (provisional) Agenda
The opening of the session
Adoption of the agenda
Upholding the global ban against chemical weapons use
Adoption of the report
Closure
The adoption of the agenda was lengthy, it took over two hours before it was adopted. The conference was subsequently adjourned.
During the afternoon session, the British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson addressed the special conference. He allegedly personally lobbied ministers from several countries. Chemical weapons are an affront to human dignity and have no place in the 21st century, said Johnson.
The Fourth Special Session of the Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, CSPSS 4 will carry on to June 28, 2018
Ambassador Randolph and Linda Evans with Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg – Picture by Cour grand ducale.
Tuesday, 19 June 2018, Luxembourg City: HRH The Grand Duke of Luxembourg welcomed in accreditation audience the latest US envoy to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the lawyer Randolph (Randy) Evans and his wife Linda.
Ambassador Evans is a partner at the world’s largest law firm “Dentons US LLP” and erstwhile Chairman of the Judicial Nominating Commission of the Federal State of Georgia.
He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Georgia School of Law with the mark summa cum laude.
For further information:
Christine Schraner Burgener.
Tuesday, 19 June 2018, Union of Myanmar: In Maungdaw township located in the northern Rakhine State, UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener met Muslim and Hindu refugees who had fled to Bangladesh yet returned voluntarily to Myanmar. It is the first visit by Special Envoy Schraner Burgener to the country since being appointed end of April by UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
She arrived last week and met to discuss the Rakhine humanitarian issues with State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Commander-in-Chief for Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Ms Schraner Burgener has served as Deputy Director of the Directorate of International Law, with the rank of Ambassador, and Head of the International Law, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Division in the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2009. Simultaneously, she served as the Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism on Foreign Policy and as the Secretary‑General of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission. Until beginning of June 2018 she was the Helvetian ambassador to Germany, first woman in the high-level position in over 150 years of Swiss-German relations.
Born in Meiringen, Switzerland, in 1963, Ms. Schraner Burgener holds a law degree from the University of Zurich, and is fluent in German, French, English and Japanese.
For further information:
1-10 June 2018, South Africa and Namibia: A political and trade delegation comprising 60 representatives from Bremen, Oldenburg and the Elbe-Weser triangle travelled to Cape Town, Windhoek and Walvis Bay. It was led on the trade side by the President of the Bremen and Bremerhaven Chamber of Commerce, Harald Emigholz as well as the Mayor and Senate President of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, Dr. Carsten Sieling.
Representatives from the fields of logistics, harbour and shipping industry, plant construction, electronics and IT, construction industry and infrastructure, energy industry and service industries, health and food industry encompassed the delegation.
President of Bremen’s Senate and Mayor Carsten Sieling led the delegation.
In South Africa the delegation paid a visit to Green Cape, an organisation focusing on collaborations with enterprises, investors, universities and governmental institutions to promote green technologies. A visit to Launch Lab in Stellenbosch was meant to connect and study the success of the start-up scene in the Cape Town region.
For Bremen the harbour and logistics infrastructure in Wavis Bay, the largest Namibian harbour, is paramount because it is developing to become the most important trade zone for good exchanges to South Africa. There is a promising cooperation with the harbour company Namport in Walvis Bay, which offered a free office to Bremen to begin the cooperation.
On the political side, Mayor Carsten Sieling paid a visit to Durban, which boasts the largest harbour in South Africa and holds a cooperation agreement with Bremen since September 2011. Out of this agreement a climate partnership was also developed, and is a important working project for Bremen and South Africa.
For further information:
Tuesday, 26 June 2018, The Hague, Kingdom of the Netherlands: At a special session held at the headquarters of the Organization against the Proliferation of Chemical Weapons, Deputy Secretary John Sullivan reiterated the USA its commitment to ending the usage of chemical weapons by state and non-state actors. Secretary Sullivan once more condemned on behalf of the US the recent chemical weapon attacks in Syria, the UK, Malaysia, and Iraq.
“The increased use of chemical weapons has created a global crisis, and we must give the OPCW the tools to deter, prevent, and respond to chemical weapons attacks, including empowering it to attribute who is responsible for chemical weapons use in Syria” he said during his allocution to the assembled dignitaries.
For further information:US Permanent Representative to the OPCW (HE Ambassador Kenneth D. Ward): https://nl.usembassy.gov/our-relationship/ambassador-kenneth-d-ward-opcw/
US Embassy to The Netherlands (H.E. Ambassador Peter Hoekstra): https://nl.usembassy.gov/statement-by-deputy-secretary-of-state-john-sullivan-at-the-opcw/
By Sheila Turabaz.
On Sunday the 17th of June, the fourth edition of International Yoga Day was – unlike previous years – held in Amsterdam, which – according to the Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. Venu Rajamony – is “the most vibrant and cultural city of the Netherlands, where there is a huge following of yoga”.
Thousands of people from all walks of life flocked to the capital to fully immerse themselves into the yoga lifestyle for an entire day. A number of Dutch and Indian dignitaries as well as from the diplomatic corps also participated in this year’s yoga celebrations.
The wellness festival, organized by the Embassy of India, was a unique opportunity for both yoga aficionados and novices to practice yoga in the heart of Amsterdam on the Museumplein, facing the Rijksmuseum and the Royal Concertgebouw at the back.
For additional pictures, please open the following link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/109407424@N02/albums/72157669000880727International Yoga Day, Amsterdam 2018.International Yoga Day is celebrated in more than 100 countries annually on and around the 21st of June since the adoption of resolution 69/131 by the General Assembly of the United Nations, in order to promote global health, harmony and peace. The Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi proposed the 21st of June as the day to celebrate the art of yoga, as it coincides with the Summer Solstice (the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere) and this day carries a special significance in many parts of the world.
This year’s International Yoga Day was inaugurated by the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management of the Netherlands, Ms. Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, Indian spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and the Ambassador of India H.E. Mr. VenuRajamony.
Ambassador Rajamony welcomed the participants and emphasized the significance of yoga to mankind and society but to the Netherlands in particular in his opening speech:
“Today we gather to celebrate yoga, to celebrate fitness and a healthy lifestyle. But along with this, we also celebrate and pay tribute to the people of the Netherlands, who are known for their commitment to fitness activities (…) in the Netherlands there are an estimated 200 yoga schools and in Amsterdam alone there are over a hundred. The people of the Netherlands are truly believers in yoga”.“We from India see yoga as ancient India’s gift to mankind. Yoga is not just a part for physical wellness but it is also a method to attune one’s mind, to still one’s mind, to learn how to go within, and through that stillness of mind, develop a stress-free, aggression-free lifestyle. Yoga is not just something for personal benefit, but it also for societal good, (…) the essence of the Indian philosophy which is also transmitted through yoga is to develop a composure of peace and calm (….) and to promote tolerance and celebrate pluralism in society”. “We believe that all practitioners of yoga and all people with the right values can come together to create a violence-free world, a world where compassion and caring rules and a world where each one of us support each other and live in harmony with each other and with Mother Earth (…) and we dream of a day when Amsterdam will become the yoga capital of Europe”.
The International Yoga Day in Amsterdam. was inaugurated by the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Ms. Cora van Nieuwenhuizenand, spiritual guru His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and H.E. Ambassador Rajamony with a traditional lighting of the lamp.
Minister Van Nieuwenhuijzen followed with a speech in which she mentioned the cooperation between the two countries in building a better world:
“Some of you might wonder what a minister of Infrastructure and Water Management is doing at a ceremony to mark the International Yoga Day. Three weeks ago I was in India, with a trade mission headed by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. (…) I was impressed by India and its can-do approach. Demonstrating self-confidence and great ambition, the country is working hard not only to grow its economy but it does it in a way that it wants to be sustainable as well. And Dutch businesses are contributing to efforts to clean up the Ganges, India’s great sacred river”. “The Netherlands is helping to build sustainable and healthy metropolitan regions and cities by providing assistance in areas like waste management, urban planning and wastewater treatment. The ties between India and the Netherlands go back four hundred years and are still very strong. A country of illustrious history, India has given the world so much. Yoga has become popular all over the world (…) it is the first and most successful product of globalization”. International Yoga Day by the Embassy of India 2018.“Yoga is practiced from Japan to South America and from Canada to Australia, and in the Netherlands too, yoga’s message is spreading”. The fact that today we are here on the Museumplein and not as in previous years in the Atrium of the Hague’s City Hall, shows this very clearly, the city hall simply became too small”.
In his annual speech which was streamed live during the festival, the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi encouraged everyone to become acquainted with the yoga lifestyle:
“The problems in modern lifestyles are well known (…) stress and depression have become silent killers. Yoga offers a solution to these ailments. Practicing yoga helps fight stress and find peace. If the body is the temple of the mind, yoga creates a beautiful temple.(…) Yoga goes beyond boundaries of age, gender, caste, religion and nations. Yoga does not discriminate between anybody; all you need is willingness to practice it. People who are at peace with themselves are at peace with others too. Such people build harmonious nations and such nations build a harmonious world.”
Together with hundreds of yoga amateurs Ambassador Rajamony and H.E. Sheikh Mohammed Belal and spouse Dr. Dilruba Nasrin.
Apart from yoga demonstrations, the stalls providing advice and products on wellness and healthy food; the grand finale in the evening ‘The Soul Shanti Concert’ featuring Indian violin maestro Dr. L. Subramaniam and Bollywood playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy also made this year’s International Yoga Day a great success.
Ambassador Rajamony aims to encourage his “ fellow diplomats to come up and take yoga. The Cultural wing of the Embassy of India (The Ghandhi Centre) in The Hague offers free yoga classes for diplomats and their spouses. I encourage more of my colleagues to pay a visit and attend these classes and to be part of the yoga movement”t
————–
Pictures are a courtesy of Sheila Turabaz and the Embassy of India in The Hague.
For further information:
Picture by Chaumet. 
For further information:
Picture by Chaumet. 
Ambassador Rajamony welcomed the participants and emphasized the significance of yoga to mankind and society but to the Netherlands in particular in his opening speech:
“Today we gather to celebrate yoga, to celebrate fitness and a healthy lifestyle. But along with this, we also celebrate and pay tribute to the people of the Netherlands, who are known for their commitment to fitness activities (…) in the Netherlands there are an estimated 200 yoga schools and in Amsterdam alone there are over a hundred. The people of the Netherlands are truly believers in yoga”.
“We from India see yoga as ancient India’s gift to mankind. Yoga is not just a part for physical wellness but it is also a method to attune one’s mind, to still one’s mind, to learn how to go within, and through that stillness of mind, develop a stress-free, aggression-free lifestyle. Yoga is not just something for personal benefit, but it also for societal good, (…) the essence of the Indian philosophy which is also transmitted through yoga is to develop a composure of peace and calm (….) and to promote tolerance and celebrate pluralism in society”.
“We believe that all practitioners of yoga and all people with the right values can come together to create a violence-free world, a world where compassion and caring rules and a world where each one of us support each other and live in harmony with each other and with Mother Earth (…) and we dream of a day when Amsterdam will become the yoga capital of Europe”.
Ambassador Rajamony welcomed the participants and emphasized the significance of yoga to mankind and society but to the Netherlands in particular in his opening speech:
“Today we gather to celebrate yoga, to celebrate fitness and a healthy lifestyle. But along with this, we also celebrate and pay tribute to the people of the Netherlands, who are known for their commitment to fitness activities (…) in the Netherlands there are an estimated 200 yoga schools and in Amsterdam alone there are over a hundred. The people of the Netherlands are truly believers in yoga”.
“We from India see yoga as ancient India’s gift to mankind. Yoga is not just a part for physical wellness but it is also a method to attune one’s mind, to still one’s mind, to learn how to go within, and through that stillness of mind, develop a stress-free, aggression-free lifestyle. Yoga is not just something for personal benefit, but it also for societal good, (…) the essence of the Indian philosophy which is also transmitted through yoga is to develop a composure of peace and calm (….) and to promote tolerance and celebrate pluralism in society”.
“We believe that all practitioners of yoga and all people with the right values can come together to create a violence-free world, a world where compassion and caring rules and a world where each one of us support each other and live in harmony with each other and with Mother Earth (…) and we dream of a day when Amsterdam will become the yoga capital of Europe”.
