Amarjeet S Bhamra opened Ayurveda Day 2018 at the European Parliament in Brussels, where 50 delegates from 17 countries gathered to legitimize Ayurveda among policymakers. He highlighted the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Indian Traditional Sciences, established in 2004, which briefs parliamentarians quarterly on Ayurveda, Yoga, and Siddha.
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First of all, it's an absolute honor to have you here. And I know like me, you know, you've taken out your time, your extremely valuable time and you've made the investment from 17. Mr. Chairman, there are, there are delegates, more than 50 delegates here this afternoon from 17 countries. Not just from within the EU but the idea really is to basically create a lasting legacy, memory in your mind that you know, the auspicious gathering of the Ayurveda Day 2018 of the more than 50 plus dignitaries, delegates that we have here from 17 nations. So that in itself is a very good indication to all of us that you know, this is something that people the world over would like to see being practiced. But I think the main reason, you know, why all of us are here with yourselves today is to see its legitimization. And that is really what the crux, most of the debate this afternoon I hope will be in that area. And I'm so glad that Her Excellency Ms. Kumar could join us. This event that we are Hosting today with Mr. Jeffrey Van Warden is supported by the Indian Embassy here in Brussels. That also is a very unique, unique significance. So we are very grateful to her excellence. And I wanted to just also let you know that the all party Parliamentary Group on Indian Traditional Sciences to which I have some input in terms of administrative, to administrate this group, we've been up and running in the United Kingdom since 2004 like Jeffrey had earlier suggested and we have more than two dozen UK members of Parliament whose this particular group and it's from both houses of Parliament in the UK and every quarter we have meetings to create awareness for all brands of branches of Indian Traditional sciences, whether it's Ayurveda, Yoga, Yonani Medicine, Siddha Medicine as well as Jyotish which is India's astronomy and Astrology, Vastu which is India's environmental engineering and so on and so forth. So the idea really behind this project is to create awareness amongst the parliamentary and the policy making community in the United Kingdom to raise their consciousness in this area, to bring them up to date, to bring them up to speed as to where, what news and developments that are taking place. So this is our first effort and I'm so delighted that Mr. Jeffrey Van Warden has very kindly given his time to arrange this very first day of Ayurveda here in the European Union. So all the parliamentary team who you had the privilege of meeting last week, some of the team that you had met last week, they are very delighted that under your able stewardship that you have actually given us, given Ayurveda homage and respect to pay contributions to Ayurveda. Thank you so much for that, Jeffrey.
