Your Excellency, President Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev,

Distinguished Guests,

Friends,

I am delighted to be here in Moscow and in the Bolshoi Theatre for this Gala Concert. This marks an important event in the 'Year of India in Russia'. I am grateful to the President for joining us to celebrate the event.

We are assured that India lives in the hearts of every Russian. Similarly, I can assure you that Russia lives in our hearts as a land and a people who share our feelings of mutual respect and abiding friendship.

The "Year of India in Russia" with its multifaceted events running throughout the year is an attempt to reach out to the people with a reiteration of this message of friendship and cooperation between our peoples. I would like to specially urge the youth of the two countries to unite and take this friendship further.

The 21st Century has brought new opportunities as well as challenges and our cooperation has to extend to new contours. This is what we have achieved in the last few years as we have developed our Strategic Partnership. This is the legacy that the younger generation must build upon in the years to come.

The concert this evening seeks to recreate the imagination of an India, which is ancient and yet modern in its outlook and its achievements. It is a country full of bright colours and rich customs carrying within them the vigour of its people who seek to take their country forward to a better world.