The President of India to speak at Uppsala University

Updated instructions. Please note that the audience is not admitted into the University Main Building after the president's motorcade arrives. This is scheduled for 16:40 but can occur earlier. Bags are not allowed in the University Auditorium and access to the wardrobe is limited. Please be in time and avoid bags!

The Indian President will visit Sweden 31 May – 2 June. It will be the first Indian state visit to Sweden.

On June 2 at 17:00, H.E. the President will give an address at the University Hall. The programme will start with words of welcome by Vice-Chancellor Eva Åkesson, to be followed by introductory remarks and an address by Margot Wallström, Minister for Foreign Affairs.

The address by H.E. the President is titled: Tagore and Gandhi: Do they have Contemporary Relevance for Global Peace?

Follow the lecture live on the web

H.R.H. Crown Princess Victoria and H.R.H. Prince Daniel will accompany H.E. the President on his visit to Uppsala University.

The programme at the University Hall will be open to the public and will also include musical performances by Allmänna Sången, the Uppsala Indian Choir and University Organist Andrew Canning. Afterwards refreshments will be served in the foyer.  

Time: June 2 at 17:00-18:15 (please note seats must be taken by 16.40)

Place: University Hall, University Main Building (Universitetshuset), Biskopsgatan 3, Uppsala

Rabindranath Tagore
In his address at Uppsala University, H.E. the President will discuss the relevance of Tagore today. Rabindranath Tagore won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. He was the first non-European to win the prize. Tagore lectured at Uppsala University twice, in 1921 and 1926. On both occasions, large audiences gathered at the University Hall.

In 2014, the Indian Ambassador to Sweden, Mrs. Banashri Bose Harrison, and Prof. Eva Åkesson, Vice Chancellor, jointly unveiled a bust of Tagore. The Tagore bust, sculpted by Mr. Ramkinkar Baij, was a gift from the Indian Ministry of Culture.  The bust will remain permanently in the Uppsala University at Campus Engelska Parken and will be a lasting symbol of the links between the poet and Uppsala.

Read more about Rabindranath Tagore.

H.E. Pranab Mukherjee
H.E. Pranab Mukherjee assumed office as the 13th President of India on July 25, 2012. He has served at different times as Foreign, Defence, Commerce and Finance Minister. He was elected to the Upper House of the Parliament (Rajya Sabha) five times from 1969 and twice to the Lower House of the Parliament (Lok Sabha) from 2004. He was a member of the Congress Working Committee, the highest policy-making body of the Party for a period of 23 years. Pranab Mukherjee is seventy-nine years old.