India has sent the first consignment of about 425 metric ton of food grains and other edible items to Suriname for its Social Welfare Programme. India enjoys close, warm and friendly relations with Suriname, reinforced by cultural and people-to-people contacts bridged by the Indian Diaspora’s arrival dating back to one and a half-century. Several high-level visits have been exchanged since establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Suriname in 1976 with Indian Embassy opened in Paramaribo in 1977 and Surinamese Embassy in New Delhi in 2000.