(L-R): Nicolas Graas; Smt. Gaitri Issar Kumar, Ambassador of India to Belgium and Luxembourg;

On Monday 17 June 2019, the Cercle Cité in Luxembourg-ville hosted the official ceremony appointing Nicolas Graas as Honorary Consul General of India in Luxembourg.

The Indian Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Smt. Gaitri Issar Kumar, said that it is an honour to welcome the new Honorary Consul General of India in Luxembourg. She said that he is very well connected with India in business and is director of a company in Calcutta and is co-founder of Sodexho in India. She added that he and his family have a special place for India in their hearts.

She explained that the process to appoint a new honorary consul started in 2018, 70 years after diplomatic relations started between the two countries, and added that she is looking forward to high-level engagements between India and Luxembourg.

On 4 Feb 2019, Nicolas Graas as appointed to take care of affairs of Indian citizens in Luxembourg; this evening's event as the formal handing over of the relevant diplomatic papers which had been signed by Grand Duke Henri, as well as recently-printed business cards.

As ambassador, she stated that she respects the support of the consul general and referred to two other former Indian Honorary Consuls General of India in Luxembourg who were also present, Jim Penning and Ambi Venkataraman.

Nicolas Graas, Honorary Consul General of India in Luxembourg, took to the podium and stated that when he was initially approached to become Consul General, he stated that it would be a tremendous honour. He recalled that when he was working for Sodexho in Luxembourg in 1995, he was asked to go to India and started off in Bombay (now Mumbai) and spent three years living and working in India. The company now has 80,000 employees across India.

He stated that India represents a really important chapter in his life, and finished by describing the collaboration as one of the smallest countries in the world linking with one of the largest.

The event concluded with a walking dinner of Indian cuisine.