Your Excellency, Mr. Sauli Niinisto, President of Finland,

I am grateful for your gracious words. It is indeed a pleasure and a great honour for me to be here amidst this distinguished gathering in the Land of the Midnight Sun. I bring to the Government and the friendly people of Finland, warm greetings and goo d wishes of the Government and the people of the Republic of India.

Excellency, at the very outset I would like to thank you for the warm welcome and hospitality accorded to me and to my delegation. We are delighted to be in Finland.

Excellencies,

Mrs. Pouskari Chairperson of the City Council,

Mr. Jussi Pajunen, Mayor of Helsinki,

Mr. Tatu Rauhamaki, the Chairman of the City Board and

Distinguished Guests,

I thank you for your kind words.

I consider it a matter of great honour to receive the Medal of Honour of Helsinki.

At the very outset, I would like to thank you for the warm reception accorded to me by the City Council of Helsinki.

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

1.It gives me great pleasure to address this distinguished gathering of business participants. Other than working on business deals, such events are important platforms for deepening mutual engagement and interaction, and providing an opportunity to think creatively about ways to develop the potential of our relationship.

Your Excellency Mr. Eero Heinaluoma, Speaker of the Finnish Parliament,

Honourable Deputy Speakers Mr. Pekka Ravi and Mr Anssi Joutsenlahti

Honourable members of the Parliament of Finland,

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to be present here today to release a Commemorative Postage Stamp to pay tribute to the great Srilankan Buddhist revivalist and writer Anagarika Dharmapala.

1. I am happy to be present at this function for the release of ‘Tulsi Smriti Granth’, which has been brought out on the eve of the Birth Centenary Celebration of Acharya Tulsi. At the outset, let me thank the Acharya Tulsi Janam Shatabdi Samaroh Samiti for the opportunity to receive the first copy of this book.

1.At the very outset, I would like to express my deep appreciation to CAG and his office for associating me with this Conference. I am happy to be present for the inauguration of the 27th Conference of Accountants General. Let me begin by complimenting the Audit Institution in India, which has a history of over 150 years.

1.I am happy to be here today to inaugurate the Summit on "Livelihood Security: Realizing the vision for 1.3 billion Indians” and receive the first copy of the Report on this subject released a while ago. To begin with, let me compliment ASSOCHAM, one of the frontier industry associations of our country, for organizing this conference on an issue touching a wide spectrum of our society.

I am indeed happy to be amidst you on this occasion of the presentation of the SCOPE Meritorious Awards for the year 2012-13.

2. I would like to compliment the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) for organizing this event which provides recognition to the efforts being made by our CPSEs in a variety of areas such as Environmental Excellence & Sustainable Development; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness; Research and Development and Technology Development & Innovation.

Your Excellency, LYONCHEN TSHERING TOBGAY, Prime Minister of Bhutan,

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,