Governor of Washington State Jay Inslee had a meeting with community and business representatives from Washington state Indian community in a Indian Diaspora forum on Dec 11th at The Westin Bellevue WA. It was Governor's Inslee's first round table with the local Indian Diaspora after being elected as Governor. Various topics were discussed including ideas to improve WA state economy, education and transportation.
This meeting is considered as a great beginning in strengthening the ties between Washington State, Indian states and Indian Diaspora in WA State. The members of the Diaspora had a very meaningful interaction with Governor and assured their support for the economic development of the state by bringing global investments to the state and creating jobs in the manufacturing and service sector. The ideas of introducing Hindi as a foreign language in Seattle schools and establishing multiple sister-state relationships in India to take advantage of the changing demographics in the nation were discussed at length.
The roundtable was organized by WASITRAC, the Seattle based non-profit trade advocacy group working on a stronger bilateral trade relationship between the Washington State and India. The Co-Chairs of WASITRAC, Debadutta Dash and Habib Habib welcomed all members of the community which included many current and former presidents of cultural and social organizations, business owners, and academicians. The Governor was presented with a Kashmiri Shawl and few books highlighting India’s Cultural Diversity and Indian Perfect Masters.
