The Postal Department on Thursday formally launched a set of commemorative postage stamps to mark five decades of Indo-French collaboration in space technology.
The commemorative stamps feature SARAL/Altika and Megha-Tropiques satellites and were released by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Francois Hollande on April 10 at Elysee Palace in Paris.
Speaking at the formal launch, French Consul-General Philippe Janvier Kamiyama said that India and France share a very vibrant relationship and this would be strengthened.
Good development
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales have been collaborating in space technology and launching several satellites.
This cooperation would continue for a long time and is a good development.
Chief Postmaster-General Mervin Alexander said that people may not be writing letters anymore but stamps continue to play an important role in diplomacy. This is a joint release and the commemorative postage stamps were simultaneously released by India posts and La Poste in France.
The stamps have the same set of designs and have been issued in the denomination of Rs.5 and Rs.25.
These stamps have been printed by a special process called wet offset process at the India Printing Press in Hyderabad. Around 9 million stamps have been printed and they will be made available at 60 philatelic bureaux across the country including Puducherry.
The first-day cover and miniature sheets have also been issued along with postage stamp.
Mr. Alexander said that joint philatelic release of stamps is very rare.
India and Japan had released a set of commemorative stamps during the visit of the Japanese Emperor to India last year.
