India wants to grow cultural ties with S Africa:official

India wants to strengthen its cultural ties with South Africa through art, music, dance, literature and other art form, a top Indian official has said.
"What we would like to do is to bring all of South Africa, not just the Indian diaspora here, closer together through the partnership we have in BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)," said former diplomat Veena Sikri.
Sikri sought inputs from local and expatriate Indian community leaders on ways to strengthen the impact of the Indian Culture Centre in Johannesburg, which is run by the Indian Centre for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
Sikri is leading a delegation which is reviewing the work of the ICCR Cultural Centres across the globe.

"We need to strengthen the identity of being Indian, but also, very importantly, to carry that identity forward into all parts of the community in South Africa so that India is known through you," Sikri said.
She said this could be achieved by making the cultural centres a centre of excellence of the highest kind, with a focus on outreach, to convey messages of contemporary India through art, music, dance, literature and other art forms.
"The Cultural Centre needs to be very modern and a centre of excellence so that when somebody comes there they should believe that they have come to a place that they will not find anywhere else and be happy with what they find there," Sikri said.