Consul General of France in Mumbai Sonia Barbry is a graduate from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (in Hindi and civilization of South Asia). After several years in India as a student and then a French teacher at the University of Benares (Banaras Hindu University), now she wants more and more Indian students to study in her country as full time students and as part of Student Exchange Programme.
Sonia Barbry, said, “Besides focusing on the business relations with France they want to increase the number of students going from here to study in France. Five years back, we had 3,000 Indian students, this year 10,000 students of Indian origin are studying in France, and our target it to increase the figure to 20,000 by 2025.”
Barbry strongly believes in the students’ exchange programmes. It all started when she was 18 years’ old and came to India as part of a student exchange programme.
“I came here when I was 18 and fell in love with India. I wanted to know more and then I made it a part of my profession. So we want students to get exposed to new culture,” she said.
Barbry recalled that when she was a student, she had to take a compulsory internship for which she chose India and spent around six months here.
She then told her parents that six months were not enough and she needed to go back to India.
“At the age of 19, I came back to India and went to Varanasi. I spent two-and-a-half years there and learnt Bharatnatyam (Indian classical dance), Dhrupad (a genre of Hindustani classical music), Hindi and yoga,” she told.
Barbry went back to Paris, completed her studies and joined the foreign service. Now she is Consul General in Mumbai and have an over 22-year-long association with India.
During her service, she has largely attended to matters related to South Asia, she informed.
Barbry said, “France is an open country adding they want people-to-people ties to increase in all possible areas.”
“We are also focusing on increasing the business ties, which are already very strong but we can do more,” she said.
During her meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani they discussed how to take the cooperation forward.
Barbry said, “We have the presence of 50 companies in Gujarat. We want to increase the investment here and more and more companies will come and would like to participated as business partners in the ‘Vibrant Gujarat’ investors summit here earlier this year.”