India will deepen its ties with its 25-million diaspora in 130 countries that has emerged as an important force in respective countries of domicile, President Pratibha Patil said on Thursday.
"Our ties and kinship with the diaspora make us acutely conscious of their well-being and to be sensitive to their concerns," the President said in an address to a joint session of the new Parliament that convened after the national election last month.
"The Indian diaspora, estimated at over 25 million across the world, is an important economic, social and cultural force and my government will deepen its engagement with it," she added.
The Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the first to set up a separate ministry to address issues concerning the country's diaspora when it was elected for the first time in 2004.
Vayalar Ravi was named the minister for overseas Indian affairs in the previous government and has retained his portfolio after the UPA government was elected back to power in the April-May national elections.
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