New tourism and ODOP walls unveiled at Indian embassy in Bahrain

In a move to promote Indian cultural diversity and regional products, the Indian Embassy in Bahrain has inaugurated new Odisha State Tourism and One District One Product (ODOP) walls in its Consular hall.

The ceremony, led by Ambassador Shri Vinod K. Jacob, took place in the presence of members from the Odiya community residing in Bahrain.

The newly installed walls showcase touristic attractions and exquisite products from the state of Odisha, identified under the ODOP scheme. Ambassador Jacob, addressing the gathering in Odiya, expressed gratitude to the Odiya community for their assistance in sourcing the ODOP items.

This initiative is part of the Embassy’s ‘focus state/union territory’ program, which aims to promote touristic and ODOP products from different Indian states in Bahrain for approximately one month each. Odisha is the fifth state to be featured, following Rajasthan, Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka. Odisha is the second focus state to have its ODOP items displayed in the Consular hall, a practice that began with Karnataka.

The Embassy has been actively engaging with diaspora communities to procure and showcase these items. The inauguration event included a short cultural presentation and a ‘Taste of Odisha’ featuring local culinary delicacies, arranged by the Odiya community. Various ODOP products from Odisha were exhibited and will remain on display for a month.

The ODOP initiative, a key component of this promotional effort, aims to select, brand, and promote at least one product from each district in India. This approach is designed to foster holistic socio-economic growth across all regions. The selection of products under this scheme takes into account the existing local ecosystem, items identified under the Districts as Export Hubs program, and GI-tagged products.

By: Vinod Kumar