We have all heard that the G20 summit meetings will be held in different cities across India and our very own Chandigarh has got the opportunity to host foreign delegates in City Beautiful.
The final 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit will take place on 9th-10th September 2023 in New Delhi. Before that, G20 processes and meetings will be held throughout the year among ministers, senior officials, and civil societies. Chandigarh will be hosting the G20 delegates for the two-day G20 Summit meeting on International Financial Architecture on January 30 and 31, and the second, on agriculture issues, in March. Around 170 delegates from 19 countries, who are multi-lingual and mutli-cultural, will be visiting Chandigarh. Their first interaction with the Tricity will be at the airport for which airport staff is being trained by professionals to handle the foreign visitors.
“We prepared the airport staff in inter-cultural communication, body language and other soft skills,” says Prof Archana R Singh, Department of Mass Communication, Panjab University. 40-50 airport staff personnel were trained from 2nd to 6th January with the help of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTR), Sector 26, Chandigarh.
From left to right: Prof Archana R Singh, Department of Mass Communication, Panjab University; Dr Shilpa Das, consultant psychologist and corporate trainer and Pramod Singla, Faculty Incharge, NITTTR Chandigarh
Chandigarh International Airport Limited (CHIAL) engaged NITTTR Chandigarh for five-day soft skills training of their personnel and that of other stakeholders like CISF, different airlines and hospitality staff.
“This training was different from the routine kind of training that I give. We taught the airport staff about how to handle different people who may have a language barrier, cultural barrier, delegates who may be confused in a foreign country and need help,” says Dr Shilpa Das, consultant psychologist and corporate trainer.
What was the training about?
Non-verbal skills
Handling different kind of visitors
Confused visitors
How to keep calm in turmoil
Psychological and emotional help to visitors
Fatigued/angry visitors
Specially–abled people
Sympathy and empathy with foreign/domestic flyers
Police personnel being trained
About 300 police personnel are being trained at the Sector 26 Police Lines recruitment training centre, Chandigarh where they are being taught pick-up lines like hello , welcome to city beautiful, etc in Spanish and French. They have been given a dress code which they will adorn when they are with the delegates — grey blazer with black pants and off white shirt. Sector 42 based Dr Ambedkar Institute of Management is working on this along with the Ministry of External Affairs and Bureau of Police Research and Development.
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Other preparations for G-20 summit in Chandigarh
Beautification of entry points, routes, venues — The small ponds at Rock Garden are being fillled up , small waterfalls are being made , water canals are being cleared off the silt
Landscaping of routes — Area opposite IISER Mohali is being landscaped , where statues depicting Punjabi culture will be installed
Repair and renovations/ painting works of venues/ routes — GMADA has allotted tenders for painting road curves, installing road furniture, repairing and beautifying Airport chowk, plants and flower pots on foot paths.
Mohali MC is beautifying three roads — IISER to chandigarh, sector66/67 dividing road and sohana gurdwara to YPS chowk
Lighting and illumination of venues — Tri-coloured street lights lights on the stretch between Airport chowk and IISER, Sector 81
Where will the delegates stay?
Hotel Lalit, Hotel Hyatt at Industrial Area and Hotel JW Marriot in Sector 35.
72 SUVs and cars have been hired for taking them around the city
What’s in store for G20 delegates?
The delegates will be given a tour of the Sukhna Lake and the Rock Garden. Cultural performances will be held in the evenings while a dinner has been planned at the Lake Club. The meetings will be held at The Lalit hotel from 10 am – 6 pm.
