The Times of India
Portugal woos Bollywood Vishwa Mohan [ 6 Jan, 2007 0110hrs IST TIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
LISBON: The developing Indo-Portuguese relationship is likely to make Bollywood's presence here a much larger one with the two governments preparing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cinema, allowing greater interaction and providing easy clearance for Indian film crew to shoot at exotic locations all over Portugal.
The MoU will be signed during the visit of Portuguese president Anibal Cavaco Silva to India from January 10-17. Officials here seem quite enthusiastic about Indo-Portuguese relations on this front as they believe it will give Lisbon an opportunity to attract Indian tourists.
They believe that besides giving a boost to tourism, the interaction at this level will increase people to people contacts which have been more or less restricted to Goa where the Portuguese had a presence till the middle of the 20th century. The MoU will also pave the way for screening of Portuguese and Hindi movies in each other's country beyond the platforms of film festivals.
Besides the MoU on cinema, the two countries will sign an agreement on cultural exchange programmes, which will cover interactions at the university level between Lisbon and New Delhi. Besides New Delhi, President Silva will visit Goa, Mumbai and Bangalore along with a huge business delegation comprising representatives of top biotech, software and construction companies.
In Mumbai, the Portuguese team will make a presentation on urban development with special emphasis on improving civic facilities. Government sources here hinted that Parque Expo, a company which was involved in Lisbon's reconstruction, has shown interest in sharing its expertise in environmental and urban renewal with Mumbai.
It is believed that such an interaction will help officials in Mumbai devise solutions for the drainage problem in the city.
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