Your Excellency, Mr. Reuven Rivlin, President of the State of Israel,

Mrs. Nechama Rivlin,

Distinguished members of the Israeli delegation,

Ladies and gentlemen,

1. It gives me great pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to Your Excellency and Mrs. Nechama Rivlin on your first State Visit to India.

2. Your visit is, indeed, significant – as it is taking place twenty years after the last visit of an Israeli President to India.

1.I am delighted to welcome you all to the second Visitor’s Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan. I extend a special welcome to those heads of academic institutions who are attending this conference for the first time. I have had the good fortune to interact with you and the institutions you represent, on several occasions – be it the eight conferences held here in last four years, the video conferences, or the convocations and other special occasions. My interface with you has enriched my understanding of the higher education sector.

1.I am happy to address this session on industry-academia collaborations. This indeed is an important component of the three-day Visitor’s Conference that has begun today. Let me thank the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for collaborating with Rashtrapati Bhavan for this particular session. CII has been active in bridging the higher education and industrial sectors. Its unique models of forging industry-institution collaborations, be it the Prime Minister’s Fellowship Scheme for Doctoral Research with DST or the IndPact Survey with AICTE, have been quite successful.

1.We have come to the conclusion of this Visitor’s Conference.Prior to the first Visitor’s Conference last year, I had the good fortune to host some of you inthe seven conferences held at Rashtrapati Bhavan between February 2013 and February 2015. So before I proceed with my closing remarks, I want to thank each of one of you for your association and participation in these conclaves at Rashtrapati Bhavan. You come to attend the conferences here at my request in spite of yourbusy schedule as heads of institutions you represent. I am grateful to you for that.

1.I am extremely happy and honoured to be invited to deliver the ‘Indira Gandhi Centennial Lecture’.

It is indeed a pleasure to be here today to deliver the opening address on the historic occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law - UNCITRAL.

Distinguished participants, Ladies and Gentlemen:

1. It is indeed a privilege for me to be present amidst you on this occasion to extend a warm welcome to this distinguished assembly and present the Distinguished Indologist Award 2016. The eminent indologists present here have devoted their faculties to the exploration and propagation of the Indian knowledge system.

It is indeed a pleasure for me to present amidst you on this occasion which is recognized as theInternational Day of Disabilities.

It is my pleasure to be amidst you this afternoon and I welcome you to the historic Darbar Hall in Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Scout and Guide fundamental principle of ‘doing one’s duty to God and Country, and service to fellow being”, has also been the fundamental ethos that drove the act and duties of so many historical figures, who took the oath of doing so in this historic building.

1.I am happy to be amongst you on the occasion of conferring the Shilp Guru and National Awards to outstanding master craft persons for the year 2015. At the outset, let me congratulate those who have been bestowed with these prestigious awards today. I express my deep appreciation for their outstanding contribution to the preservation and promotion of Indian handicraft traditions and enrichment of our cultural heritage. These awardees will inspire and encourage young craft persons of India to strive for excellence in their chosen fields.