St Andrew’s Day

Part of the debate – in the Scottish Parliament at on 27 November 2012.

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Photo of Fiona Hyslop Fiona Hyslop Scottish National Party

We have absolutely not fallen behind in our overseas activity—it is very extensive. Indeed I was in India only a few weeks ago and one of the celebrations that I had there involved discussing with some villagers I met at a water development project poetry and our internationalism, and the fact that Rabindranath Tagore was inspired by Robert Burns and his brotherhood. Our activity is continuing. That visit also helped to bring jobs to Scotland.

I completely agree with Hanzala Malik that it is important that we encourage all of the international links that we have, to help in celebrating and to ensure that there is activity. As a Government, we absolutely want to do that. However, it is not just the Government that can encourage our twinning organisations; as Hanzala Malik knows from the City of Glasgow, cities and towns throughout Scotland can do likewise with their twin towns and cities and celebrate Scotland.