French minister mulls following Mother Teresa

CALCUTTA, March 11 (AFP) – French Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine said on a trade trip to India Thursday she would consider one day turning her energies to the work of Mother Teresa, who spent a half-century tending to Calcutta’s poor.

“Maybe someday I would work for a cause that was close to Mother Teresa’s heart,” Fontaine told AFP as she visited her tomb at Mother House, headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity order founded by the Albanian-born nun.

“As I am especially attached to people in the religious line and worked for over 18 years in villagers’ education, my visit to Mother House is very emotional,” Fontaine said.

“It was one of my cherished dreams to visit Mother House in Calcutta and pay homage to her,” added Fontaine, the former president of the European parliament.Mother Teresa, who died in 1997, was beatified in October in a step towards sainthood after the Vatican ascertained as a miracle the healing of an Indian woman after prayers by the Missionaries of Charity.

“If somebody should be a saint, it should be Mother Teresa,” Fontaine said.Fontaine met Wednesday in New Delhi with her Indian counterpart Arun Shourie and was to hold talks in Calcutta with leaders of West Bengal state about boosting commerce.

“There is a lot of scope for mutual cooperation and partnership in the field of information technology in the state of West Bengal,” said Fontaine, who Thursday toured a software park on Calcutta’s outskirts.

After a meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya later in the day, she said that France was keen to explore the possibilities of investments in the eastern Indian state.

“I feel the industrial scenario in the (Marxist-ruled) state of West Bengal has changed. Roads are being widened and a number of flyovers are coming up. Attitude of the government has also changed towards industrial growth,” she added.

She left for the Indian capital New Delhi after a meeting with industrialists.

Subject: France news