Panaji, Dec 26 (PTI) Goa is known internationally as a tourist haven, but in 2023 it hosted visitors of a different kind as G20 meetings and a meet of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) foreign ministers were held in the coastal state.
After seven years, the state was hosting international political events. In 2016, a meeting of BRICS nations had been held in Goa.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto was among the foreign VVIPs who participated in the SCO meet, held in the South Goa district in May 2023.
Bhutto arrived in the state amid the heightened tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the killing of five soldiers in Jammu and Kashmir.
The SCO meeting, however, went off well, and was followed by a series of G20 meetings which were attended by several foreign delegates.
The G20 member countries adopted the `Goa Roadmap’ during the meeting of tourism ministers.
In October and November, the state hosted the National Games which were inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The coastal state was also the venue of the World Beach Pro Tour 2023, held a little ahead of the National Games.
The political situation in the state remained stable during the year. Among few noteworthy developments was PWD minister Nilesh Cabral getting replaced by Aleixo Sequeira, another BJP MLA.
Sequeira’s induction was part of fulfillment of the assurances given by the ruling party to the group of eight Congress MLAs who joined it last year.
President Droupadi Murmu was in Goa in August. During her three-day visit, she addressed the convocation of Goa University.
In the tourism sector, the government sought to promote “Goa Beyond Beaches”.
It launched the home stay and caravan policies to promote hinterland tourism. The policies are getting the final touches after suggestions were received from the public. PTI RPS KRK
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