On 9 April 2015 in Chambord, a partnership agreement was signed between the Domaine National de Chambord and Udaipur City Palace, which is managed by the Maharana of Mewar Charitable Foundation.
This marks the first cooperation project between the Loire Valley and Rajasthan. The idea of developing exchanges between the Châteaux of the Loire Valley and the Palaces of Rajasthan was the fruit of a common desire, jointly expressed by French Minister of Foreign Affairs Laurent Fabius and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The aim is to expand Indian tourism to France and to preserve and introduce Indian culture and heritage. The Loire Valley and Rajasthan share the unique quality of enjoying exceptional historical tourist attractions and being located relatively close to their countries' capitals, making them first-rate tourist destinations.
The agreement identifies four objectives:
1. Promotion of knowledge of the two sites and their regions to their respective audiences;
2. Sharing of knowledge in the field of conservation;
3. Joint communications to promote tourism to those destinations;
4. Organisation of events in common.
For France, the signatory is Mr Jean d'Haussonville, General Manager of the Domaine National de Chambord. On the Indian end, the signatory is HRH the Prince of Udaipur, Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar. Because of the symbolic nature of the two sites in their respective regions, this first partnership could serve as a role model and have a domino effect in the development of further tourist and cultural relationships between India and France.
Six months after signing a twinning agreement with the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, the Domaine National de Chambord is delighted with this new advancement in its strategy of openness toward the rest of the world.