During his lecture entitled "Croatian-Indian Relations: The Path Forward," President Kovind said that he was pleased he was offered the opportunity to give this lecture at Zagreb's university which is celebrating 350 years of its existence.
India and Croatia have special cultural ties, he said and recalled that after his meeting with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic on Tuesday, agreements were signed for the Hindi and Sanskrit languages with the university where Indian Studies have been taught for 60 years and Sanskrit has been taught since the 19th century.
Studying our language and civilisation has truly brought our two countries closer, Kovind said.
In the year when India is marking the 150th anniversary of the birth of the "Father of the Nation," President Kovind underscored that Croatia's politician Stjepan Radic was "greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi." Kovind invited the audience to attend the unveiling of a bust in Zagreb on Gandhi's birthday, October 2.
Indian statesman and philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the author of "Indian Philosophy" and the second president of the country visited Zagreb University in October 1965.
Rabindranath Tagore, the most translated Indian author into Croatian visited Zagreb in 1926, President Kovind said. He added that works by Croatian author Ivana Brlic Mazuranic have been translated into several Indian languages including Bengali and Hindi.
India's impact on society in Croatia can be seen in the interest by Croatian associations for Indian spiritualism, yoga, music and philosophy, he said.
Today it is time for a new partnership based on new technologies, innovations, sustainability, the fourth industrial revolution, Kovind said. He welcomed "Croatia's progress in establishing a successful democracy," and its first chairmanship of the European Union in 2020.
That will be an opportunity for closer cooperation between Croatia and India within the framework of the EU which India considers to be a "key global partner." He underscored that India advocates multilateralism in a global world.
In fluent Croatian he said "Nema kruha bez motike" (No sweet without sweat) in his comment on the strong commitment of the Croatians to planning their new future.
He spoke about the creation of "a new inspiring India which is globally connected, impacts the global economy, is prepared to be a leader in international efforts to find solutions to challenges such as climate change and building a new global architecture in the fight against terrorism.
On the day that India announced that it had successfully shot down one of its satellites in space with an anti-satellite missile, India's president spoke about the success of India's technology and its space programme, its biometric identification system, which is perhaps the largest IT project in the world.
India has the second largest IT base in the world. It is the third largest scientific and technical community in the world with 162 universities. A thousand global companies have their headquarters in India, he said.
Concluding his lecture, Kovind spoke about demography as "one of the key elements," of India's success.
We are perhaps the youngest country in the world, he said adding that young people are the drivers of progress and innovations. They seek new solutions and it is due to them that India has a growth rate of 7%, the fastest growing economy in the world.
"Na mladima svijet ostaje", (The future lies in the hands of the youth), Kovind said in Croatian and once again invited Croatians to explore the new India.