Chicago bids emotional farewell to Indian diplomat

[gallery td_select_gallery_slide="slide" size="medium" td_gallery_title_input="Chicago bids emotional farewell to Indian diplomat" ids="114635,114634,114636"] CHICAGO, Illinois — A large number of eminent persons from the Indian subcontinent in Chicago, Illinois, cutting across nationalities, religions and regions, demonstrated a first-of-its-kind show of unity to bid a fitting farewell to Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, the outgoing consul general of India in Chicago at Monty’s Banquets recently. The presence of leading Americans and their elected representatives at the event was very refreshing. The function, which was attended by over 300 renowned persons from different walks of life, despite inclement weather, was a proof of Dr. Sayeed’s widespread popularity. In his address, Dr. Sayeed paid rich tributes to the 500,000-strong Indian-American Diaspora in the US Midwest, who have been contributing magnificently in the domains of education, science & technology, trade, culture, etc. He expressed his gratitude to them for their unflinching support to the consulate and its activities during his tenure. Dr. Sayeed stated that with the conceptualization and execution of such innovative flagship measures by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Digital India, Clean India, Make in India, Skills India, and Green India, and his commitment to bring about 100 Smart Cities and to lay down world-class infrastructure, India has witnessed an economic paradigm shift and thereby emerged as one of the hottest destinations for global investors. Dr. Sayeed mentioned that the efforts of the consulate during his tenure were directed toward strengthening the political, economic, cultural, educational, and people-to-people relationships between India and the US Midwest.  As part of this process, he added, the consulate established a close working relationship with the offices of the Governors, Lt. governors, elected representatives and mayors, besides senior officials of the economic departments of various states and leading Chambers of Commerce. “This proactive networking resulted in a number of high level trade delegations, signing of a number of MoUs, and a boost to the volume of mutually beneficial business transactions”, he added. Hardik Bhatt, chief information officer, state of Illinois, said that the charismatic leadership of Dr. Sayeed resulted in signing of MoU for Smart State cooperation between the state of Illinois and the government of Telangana. He said that Dr. Sayeed has been facilitating the state of Illinois for concluding similar agreements with the governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Bhatt handed over the official letter of appreciation from Governor of Illinois Bruce Rauner to Dr. Sayeed. Bhatt also praised Farha Sayeed, who is an accomplished egg artist, a social activist, and a philanthropist — all rolled into one. Dr. Sayeed was the consul general of India in Jeddah from Aug. 2004 to July 2008. Mickey Straub, mayor of Burr Ridge stated that Dr. Sayeed has succeeded not only in diversifying and enriching the Indo-US Midwest relations but also in establishing extremely cordial relations with people at large, across all religious denominations. “Building relations with Government as well as general public are two different ball games and success on both the fronts proves that Sayeed is an exceptionally talented diplomat,” he added.