President Droupadi Murmu, during her two-day State Visit, said on Wednesday that India and Slovakia have great potential to work more closely in film production and the rapidly growing media and entertainment industry.

In her meeting with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, she invited Slovakia to participate in the upcoming WAVE Summit, which India is hosting in Mumbai from May 1 to 4. She emphasised the importance of promoting Slovakia as a filming destination and a partner for joint film productions, according to a statement from Rashtrapati Bhavan. She pointed out the great opportunity for both countries to work together more in India’s growing media, entertainment and creative industries, which includes promoting Slovakia as a filming location and a partner in film production, the statement added.

Slovakia has long been a popular location for Hollywood filmmakers, but the Indian film industry explored the High Tatra mountains for the first time in 2019, when the Amitabh Bachchan film Chehre was shot there. President Murmu arrived in Slovakia on the final part of her two-nation tour to Portugal and the Slovak Republic. She was accompanied by a delegation that included Minister of State Nimuben Bambhaniya, Members of Parliament Dhaval Patel and Sandhya Ray, along with senior officials. She received a traditional Slovak welcome with bread and salt from a couple in folk costumes, followed by a formal Guard of Honour ceremony.

"President Murmu discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and issues of shared global and regional interests with President Pellegrini during the one-to-one meeting and delegation-level talks," the statement said. She also held talks with Prime Minister Robert Fico. "India greatly values our traditionally close and friendly ties with the Slovak Republic, based on shared values of democracy, rule of law and convergence of views on global issues," she told Fico.

"The two leaders agreed to further diversify and strengthen bilateral relations in all areas of mutual interest," the statement said. President Murmu later placed a wreath at the Gate of Freedom Memorial, which stands where the Morava and Danube rivers meet, just below Devin Castle near the Austrian border. This concrete gate, marked with bullet holes, honours the 400 people who were killed while trying to escape from Czechoslovakia between 1945 and 1989, when the border was tightly controlled during the Cold War. At that time, barbed-wire fences, electric barriers, and the Iron Curtain stopped people from moving freely from Soviet-controlled countries to the West. Anyone caught trying to escape was either jailed or killed. In the evening, President Pellegrini held a grand State Banquet in honour of President Murmu.