IMM hosted the 33rd World Marketing Congress on the theme “The South Asia Market : Its Challenges & Opportunities” at The Grand, New Delhi during January 20 –21, 2006. The Congress was inaugurated by Hon’ble Dr. A.R. Kidwai. Governor of Haryana and National President of IMM. He was also the Chief Guest at the Valedictory Session H.E. Mr. Chenkyab Dorji, Secretary General, SAARC, delivered the Valedictory Address. At the Inaugural Session Dr. Gaganjit Singh, Director General, IMM, delivered the Welcome Address; Mr. Shashank, former Foreign Secretary of India and Chairman of the Steering Committee, delivered the Opening Address; Mr. Ravi Uppal, Vice Chairman & M.D., ABB India and Dr. Abdul Basit, Chancellor, Preston University, Pakistan, delivered Keynote Addresses. Hon’ble. Dr. A.R. Kidwai also gave away the 2006 IMM Awards for Excellence during the Inaugural Session. Dr. Jagjit Singh, Executive President & Congress Convenor, IMM, delivered the Concluding Statement. Famous Bollywood personality, Ms. Tanushree Dutta, graced the Inaugural Session. Dr. Ajay Dua, IAS, Secretary, Department of I.P.P., Ministry of Commerce & Industry, delivered the keynote Address at the Valedictory Session. The Congress was partially sponsored by GAIL (I) Ltd. and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. Indian Airlines was the Travel Partner. It was endorsed by the Ministry of External Affaires; Ministry of Power; Ministry of HRD; PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry ; Indian Merchants’ Chamber; Rajesthan Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Standing Conference of Public Enterprises ; Asia Pacific Marketing Federation; Japan Marketing Association; Association of Thailand; Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing; Federation of Nepalese Chamber of Commerce & Industry; The Centre for Bhutan Studies; Bangladesh Unnayan Parishad; Bangladesh Enterprise Institute; Nepal Economic Association; Institute for Integrated Development Studies of Nepal; Centre for South Asian Studies, University of Sydney, Australia; Institute of Management & Technology, Nepal ; Preston University , Pakistan and India –CIS Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The list of 2006 IMM Awards Winners given to the following. 2006 IMM Marketing King Awards to Mr. A.K. Shukla, Chairman, LIC; Mr. Ravi Uppal, Vice Chairman & Mg. Director , ABB India; Top Export Company Award to Mr. J.K. Jain, Director, LMJ International Ltd.; Top CEO Awards to Dr. S.M. Dewan, Director General, SCOPE; Mr. Pradeep Kumar Jain, Chairman, Parsvnath Developers Ltd.; Mr. Arun Grover, Managing Director , Amartex Industries Ltd.; Mr. R.P.Singh , Chairman & Mg. Director, Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd.; Top Diplomat Awards to H.E. Mrs Eva Lilian Nzaro, High Commissioner of Tanzania; H.E. Mr. Carlos Agostinho Do Rosario, High Commissioner of Mozambique; H.E. Dato Z.I.B. Ab Rahman, High Commissioner of Malaysia; H.E. Mr. Dragovest Goranov, Ambassador of Bulgaria; H.E. Mr. Patrick De Beyter, Ambassador of Belgium; Top Cultural Ambassador Awards to Ms. Ashima & Ms. Leena Singh; Top Woman Entrepreneur Awards to Ms. Monica Malhotra & Ms. Sonica Malhotra, Executive Directors, MBD Group; Life Time Achievement Award to Dr. R.C. Nirula, Chairman & Mg. Director, Century Twenty-One Pvt. Ltd; Top Young Enterpreneur Award to Mr. Karan Gupta; Executive Director, Candico (I) Limited; Top Marketing Man of the Year Awards to Mr. Neeraj Gupta, Sr. General Manager-Strategic Planning, J.K. Industries Ltd.; Mr. Sharad Agarwal, Executive Director, Surya Roshni Ltd; Top Media Personality Award to Mr. Karan Thapar, TV Host and Top Public Affairs Director Award to Mr. N.D. Rajpal, Resident Director , Alembic Ltd.

The Congress was attended by 536 delegates which include participants representing various countries namely Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal China, Belarus, Afghanistan, Thailand, Morocco, Tenzania, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Bhutan;, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal, Maldives, Kyrgyz Republic, Iran, Poland, USA, UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Malaysia; different officials from Ministries of External Affaires, Commerce & Industry, HRD, Small Scale Industries, Railways, Home Affairs; representative from various States Governments such as Karnataka, Kerala, Haryana, Mezoram, Goa Maharashtra, U.T. Lakshadweep; representatives from Chambers of Commerce, top companies, professionals, academicians, entrepreneurs, MBA students, media persons & so on also participated in the event. Dr. A. Nag, Senior Professor, IMM and Prof. Sunil Ohri, Professor, IMM, presented the Conclusion and Recommendations of Congress. The theme of the 34th World Marketing Congress was also announced which has been slated for January 17-18, 2007 on “Asian Economic Community: Challenges & Opportunities” at New Delhi.

Technical Sessions were conducted as per following details:

S.N.	Technical Sessions / Theme	Name of Speakers
1	Chairman: Mr. Anil Bhandari, Managing Director, International Travel House“Opening Session : An Overview” “Economic Integration in SAARC” “How WTO Hong Kong decisions are going to impact South Asian Trade ?”	HE Mr. A.R. Kohli, Governor of Mizoram’s keynote Address was read by Mr. P. Krishnamurthy, Resident Commissioner of Mizoram. Dr. Arvind Virmani ; Pr. Advisor, Planning Commission Dr. Nagesh Kumar, Director General, RIS Mr. B. Raj Bhandari, IMP (Retd), Former Principal Advisor to ITC / UNCTAD / WTO
2	Chairman: Prof. K.K. Uppal, Panjab University “Human Resource Development and Utilization”	Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhyay, Consultant, NIIT Institute of Information Technology Dr. Jerry Haenisch, Chancellor, Preston University, USA Prof. Birgit Wildt, European Business School, London
3	Chairman : Mr. P.K. Kapur, Joint Secretary, SAARC, MEA “SAFTA & its Impact” “The South Asian Market” “Marketing of Fruits & Vegetables in South Asia”	Prof. I.N. Mukherji, Professor of South Asian Studies, JNU Prof. M.P. Lama, Chairman, South Asia Centre , JNU Dr. R.N. Bhagat, Reader, BIT Mesra
4	Chairman: Hon’ble Sh. Lalit Suri, MP, Chairman & M.D., Bharat Hotels “Tourism and Hospitality Management”	Mr. Inder Sharma, Chairman, Select Hotels Dr. Subhash Goyal, Chairman, Stic Travel Group
5	Chairman: Mr. V. C. Jain Bhabhu, CMD, Seer India“Services Sector” Culture & the SAARC	Dr. Veena Jha, Country Coordinator, UNCTAD Dr. Naresh Trehan, Executive Director, Escorts Heart Institute And Research Centre. Mr. Yogesh Sethi, Divisional Chief Executive, VLCC Healthcare Ltd. Ms Sharon Lowen, Eminent Classical Dancer
6	Co-Chairman: Mr. N.D. Rajpal, Resident Director, Alembic“Infrastructure Development & IT Sector Networking in South Asia”	Mr. B. L. Bagra, Director (Finance), RITES Mr. Amitabh Basu, CGM (Tech & BCC), NBCC Mr. Ashok Thussu, Executive Director, Zenith Global Consultants Ltd.